The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), under the chairmanship of Edozie Njoku, has petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) over a judgement delivered by Justice James Kolawole Omotosho on the leadership feud plaguing the party.
The Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chekwas Okorie, made this announcement while addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Enugu.
Okorie recalled that Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered a judgment on the APGA leadership tussle on November 20, while a similar case was still pending at the Supreme Court.
According to him, the judge, in his verdict, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw its recognition of Edozie Njoku as APGA National Chairman and replace him with Sly Ezeonwuka.
The party chieftain recalled that a five-man panel of Justices of the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous judgment upholding Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of the party.
The BoT chairman noted that despite the judgment, INEC, which was a party in the suit, refused to obey the judgment. He said the commission was being forced to recognize Njoku as the party’s chairman after a court order.
Okorie said Justice M. A. Madugu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court had found INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, and a former factional national chairman of the party, Victor Oye, guilty of contempt of court but delayed the sentencing out of leniency to allow “the contemnors the opportunity to purge themselves of contempt.”
He stated that while the Supreme Court had not delivered its judgment on the suit filed by Victor Oye and Mr. Sly Ezeonwuka on the matter, Justice Omotosho delivered a judgment on November 20 on the same matter.
“APGA has taken the civilized step of submitting the party’s petition to the NJC while patiently awaiting the judgment of the Supreme Court,” Okorie said.
He expressed optimism that the NJC, which is responsible for ensuring that judicial officers adhere to the ethics of their jobs, would look into the petition.
