APGA Crisis: BoT Chair Okorie criticizes Justice Omotosho over INEC indictment

Chief Chekwas Okorie, the founder and chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance’s (APGA) board of trustees, has blasted Justice JK Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja for his recent decision regarding the crisis engulfing the party.

According to reports, on Wednesday, November 2024, Justice Omotosho delivered a bold ruling on the APGA leadership conflict, giving worried Nigerians who have been watching the drawn-out and drawn-out leadership cases in several Nigerian courts a new perspective on the situation.

In his decision, the judge accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of interfering in APGA’s internal affairs and directed the Commission to revoke its recognition of Chief Edozie Njoku as the party’s national chairman and install Mr. Sly Ezeonwuka, Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s personal assistant, in his place.

It was recalled that on March 24, 2023, a five-member Supreme Court bench issued a final, unanimous ruling confirming Chief Edozie Njoku as the Party’s National Chairman.

Citing numerous Supreme Court rulings, the highest court categorically upheld the decision that the High Court of Birnin Kudu in Jigawa State had not the right to challenge the alleged dismissal of Chief Edozie Njoku.

A party to the lawsuit, INEC, disregarded the Supreme Court’s unequivocal and unambiguous ruling.

The Commission persisted despite multiple official messages to INEC, including a direct serving of the Supreme Court’s Chief Bailiff’s enrolled order of the ruling.

According to the 1999 constitution of the Federation Republic of Nigeria as amended, any court of record below has the authority to enforce the Supreme Court’s ruling in the event that any of the parties fail to comply. Two members of the APGA National Working Committee went to the FCT High Court 40, Bwari, to request the enforcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

During the trial, the court decided on a motion and mandated that neither party to the lawsuit should have primaries, conventions, or congresses until the litigation was decided.

In contravention of the court ruling, Chief Victor Oye held a party convention in Awka, Anambra State, where they elected Mr. Sly Ezeonwuka as the APGA’s national chairman.

Forms 48 and 49 were swiftly submitted by the Njoku-led APGA to commit INEC Chairman Prof. Yakubu Mahmood and Chief Victor Oye to the Correctional Center for contempt of court.

On June 6, 2023, Hon. Magudu of the FCT High Court 40, Bwari, delivered a thoughtful ruling in support of Chief Edozie Njoku and his National Working Committee members as the legitimate APGA leadership in upholding the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Hon. Justice Magudu found Prof. Yakubu Mahmood and Chief Victor Oye guilty of contempt of court on November 29, 2023, but postponed punishment out of leniency to give the defendants time to clear their names.

Chief Oye once more went to the Court of Appeal to contest the ruling on contempt of court as well as the ruling on the substantive issue of the Supreme Court’s ruling’s enforcement.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal decided all ten grounds of appeal in favor of the APGA, with Chief Edozie Njoku serving as its national chairman, on June 26, 2024.

Following the Court of Appeal’s unanimous ruling, INEC eventually complied with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which the Court of Appeal upheld.

Mr. Sly Ezeonwuka and Chief Victor Oye persisted in appealing the Court of Appeal’s ruling all the way to the Supreme Court.

A five-member Supreme Court justice bench considered the motions and litigation that were brought before it on November 4. The highest court postponed rendering a decision until a date that would be announced to all parties.

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With all of these specifics in place, Okorie characterized Justice Omotosho’s decision on November 20, 2024, as a rebellious and damning finding that, in his opinion, amounted to preempting the Nigerian Supreme Court.

In a harsh statement, Justice Omotosho accused INEC of interfering in APGA’s internal matters while the Commission’s only action was to follow the Trial Court’s enforcement of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“Prof. Mahmood has to be warned not to succumb to the threats and coercion of Justice Omotosho.

Without being intimidated in the least by the boasting of Governor Chukwuma Soludo and his provocateur agent, who assert that they have the connections to guide the path of justice in all situations and at all levels in Nigeria, the APGA has taken the civilized step of submitting the Party’s petition to the NJC while patiently awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling.