Chekwas Okorie, the founder and pioneer national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has raised the alarm over what he called a plan to get Edozie Njoku, the current chairperson of the party out of circulation.
In a press statement on Tuesday, Okorie expressed concern over what transpired at the resumption of the hearing of the trial of Njoku and Chukwuemeka Nwoga on the allegation of forging supreme court judgment.
Elendu Reports had reported that Njoku was arrested at the court premises on Monday after an alleged altercation between him and the police prosecutor.
He described the incident as ” absurd, scarring, and an orchestrated plot to put Chief Edozie Njoku out of circulation for the second time”.
“It has become compelling to draw the attention of the security agencies, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and the general public to the dangerous dimension of the All Progressives Grand Alliance leadership dispute between the National Chairman, Chief Edozie Njoku, and Chief Victor Oye has assumed,” the statement reads.
“It will be recalled that it was Chief Victor Oye that caused a petition to be written to the Inspector General of Police alleging that Chief Edozie Njoku forged a corrected judgment of the Supreme Court which deleted the name of Chief Victor Oye and replaced it with the name of Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA whose purported removal by a Jigawa High Court was not justiceable.
“Curiously, the police in their investigation did not interview or obtain clarification from Hon. Justice Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili (retired) who made the correction of the slip in the earlier judgment with the full consent of her colleagues on the panel that heard the matter.
“The police for whatever reasons best known to them sidestepped this fundamental procedure in the investigation but proceeded with dispatch to charge Chief Edozie Njoku and Comrade Chukwuemeka Nwoga to court for a crime they didn’t commit. These victims of obvious travesty of justice, upon their first appearance in court, were remanded at the Suleja Correctional Centre at the behest of the police. After two days of undeserved incarceration and mental torture, they were released on bail.
On the 24th March 2023, the Supreme Court in a well-considered further judgment following an application by Chief Edozie Njoku under Order 8, Rule 16 of the Supreme Court, the court affirmed in very clear and unambiguous terms that Chief Edozie Njoku is the National Chairman of APGA whose purported removal by a Jigawa High Court was unjustifiable.
“This landmark judgment was duly served on all parties in the suit including Chief Victor Oye and INEC by the bailiff of the Supreme Court. And an enrolled order to enable the enforcement of the judgment was also served on INEC. Surprisingly, INEC has remained aloof and indeed, recalcitrant by refusing to accord recognition to Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA.
“On Monday 17th April, 2023, the FCT High Court at Bwari resumed the hearing of the criminal suit filed by the police against Chief Edozie Njoku. Every Nigerian with a sense of justice would have expected the police to discontinue the prosecution since the Supreme Court that effected the corrected judgment which was the subject of litigation at the Bwari court has in its judgment of 24th March 2023, reaffirmed its correction.
“Instead, the police prosecutor, Mr Rinamsomte Ezekiel withdrew all the witnesses who are staff and officers of the Supreme Court who he earlier listed to appear in court to bear witness to the purported forgery. He proceeded to lead in evidence one Godwin Odu who claimed to be the Deputy National Secretary of APGA, who wrote the petition that prompted the police to charge Chief Edozie Njoku and Comrade Chukwuemeka Nwoga to court.
“At the course of hearing before the presiding Judge, Justice Mohammed Madugu, the police prosecutor right on the floor of the court after the close of the hearing, alleged that Chief Edozie Njoku threatened to kill him when two of them met at the premises of the court. He made other spurious unimaginable allegations against Chief Edozie Njoku, completely outside the subject matter that brought the parties to court.
“Unknown to Chief Njoku and his supporters who thronged the court, Mr Ezekiel had mobilized the police to arrest Chief Edozie Njoku on these trumped-up charges. Chief Njoku indeed, was invited to the Bwari Police Station where the same complainant, Ezekiel unashamedly dropped his spurious and malicious allegations against Chief Njoku. The matter ended there and then without demanding any statement from Chief Njoku.
“This was the second plot to put Chief Njoku out of circulation. As if this was not enough mischief, some thugs who presented themselves as supporters of Chief Victor Oye emerged from nowhere carrying various placards on which Chief Edozie Njoku was called unprintable names and highly derogatory songs chanted against him. All these intrigues were meant to break the will and spirit of Chief Edozie Njoku.
“I call on all civil rights organizations in Nigeria, the police authorities, the Nigerian Judicial Council, the Nigerian Bar Association, the media, and all well-meaning Nigerians to weigh into this matter before it degenerates beyond control.”
