Chief Edozie Njoku, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has reacted to a statement by the Supreme Court on the leadership crisis rocking the party.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, Chief Njoku said that the Supreme Court’s stance was that he (Njoku) was not a party in the proceedings that led to its judgment on October 14, 2021, did not qualify Victor Oye as a beneficiary of the Owerri Convention.
Earlier, in a statement, Dr Akande Festus, Director of Press and Information, Supreme Court of Nigeria, said that one Chief Edozie Njoku, who sought to be joined in the appeal, was not joined and therefore not a party to the final judgment that resolved the leadership crisis.
Akande cautioned that any judgment order containing parties different from the ones on record did not emanate from the Supreme Court and, therefore, should be disregarded.
But Chief Njoku, in the statement, also wondered about the basis on which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognised Victor Oye as the party’s chairman.
READ THE STATEMENT IN FULL
Our attention has been drawn to the Press Statement of the Supreme Court’s Director of Press and Information, Dr Akande Festus on Thursday, September 1, 2022, regarding the judgment of the Supreme Court in Appeal Number: SC/CV/687/2021: Chief Jude Okeke Versus ALL PROGRESSIVES GRAND ALLIANCE (APGA) & 3 ORS delivered on 14th October 2021.
We commend Mr Akande for his courage to have laid to rest the unnecessary confusion being created over the inclusion of Chief Edozie Njoku as a Respondent.
In his statement, he made it clear that the ’ …appeal arose from a Primary Election conducted by the party on the 31st day of May 2019 at Owerri, Imo State, in which the 3rd Respondent (Rabiu Garba Aliu) was elected Deputy National Chairman (North).’
Akande went further to state that; ‘the said 3rd respondent (Alhaji Rabiu Garba Aliyu), by Originating Summons, commenced an action claiming, among other reliefs, to be automatically recognized as the Chairman of the Party on the ground that the Chairman who was then suspended had been replaced by someone other than him.’
Apparently, Mr. Akande forgot to be more explicit that the National Chairman of APGA, purported to have been suspended at Jigawa was Chief Edozie Njoku. Hence, the contention between Chief Jude Okeke and Alhaji Rabiu Garba Aliyu was who has the constitutional powers to replace Chief Njoku.
The Supreme Court spokesman acknowledged that ‘the trial Court dismissed the suit and confirmed Chief Jude Okeke as the Party’s Chairman.’
Instructively, Jude Okeke’s confirmation as the National Chairman of APGA and his recognition by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) derive its powers by the consequential orders of Suit No: JDU/022/2021.
The trial Judge, His Lordship Hon. Justice Musa Ubale in Page 9 of his Judgment posits as follows;
‘Counsel further submit that with the suspension of Njoku in the National Chairmanship of the party, the NEC of the party by a resolution, acting pursuance to Article 20 (2) of the APGA Constitution appointed the 1st Defendant, as the Acting National Chairman. See Article 20 (2) APGA constitution which provides that:
‘…in the event of the death or resignation of the National Chairman, the Deputy Chairman from the same zone as the National Chairman should temporarily hold the office
Furthermore, Akande notes that ‘the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction as all the issues in contention took place in Imo State and not Jigawa State.’
In his conclusion, Akande also observed ‘that decision was based on the premise that such action had been severally adjudged to be unjusticiable by virtue of the varied subsisting Supreme Court judgments in respect of intra-party disputes.’
Unarguably, the above comment from Akande is absolutely right. Hence, the Supreme Court noted as follows;
Hon. Justice Mary Ukaego Odili reads;
(1). ‘It needs to be stated at this point that the dispute being who should be the Acting National Chairman of the 1st Respondent APGA and whether the Chairman, Chief Edozie Njoku was validly replaced are within the confines of the internal affair of the 1st Respondent which is not justiciable.’
Impressively, the four Honourable Justices of the Supreme Court that were in the Panel corroborated the lead Judgment of Odili.
(2). Hon. Justice Ibrahim Mohammed Saulawa in Page 3 Paragraph 2 states;
‘The Court has an unfettered jurisdictional competence, nay and onerous duty to undo the mischief done by a party in the abuse of judicial process, most especially in the instant case, where the 3rd Respondent reprehensibly resorted to Forum Shopping. This is to avoid an unwholesome situation whereby the Court would be presented with a Fait Accompli. Thus, this Court is cloaked with the jurisdiction to restore the parties to the position they ought to have been prior to the offending action.’
Clearly, Hon. Justice Saulawa’s judgment considers my purported removal as the National Chairman of APGA as a mischievous action, an abuse of judicial process and as an offending and irritable action by some politicians that were seeking means to make the Court an accomplice to their plot and use it to validate and legitimize their Forum Shopping.
(3) Therefore, angered by the action of Garba Aliyu and others, the Supreme Court asserted its position as the Apex Court and gave an order, restoring ‘the parties to the position they ought to have been prior to the offending action.’
Consequently, the Supreme Court ordered all the parties to return to Status Quo Ante Bellum. This means that parties should return to their previous positions before the offending action. The implication of this is that Chief Edozie Njoku should return to his duty as the National Chairman before the sojourn to Jigawa State.
In his Judgment, Hon. Justice Lawal Garba Mohammed said;
‘With all the events happening and all the parties directly involved present in Imo State at the material time, the 3rd Respondent manifestly embarked on what has now become known in our Judicial Jurisprudence as ‘Forum Shopping’ by going to initiate the action in the High Court of Jigawa State instead of the High Court of Imo State, where all the facts and events giving rise to the cause of action are shown to have occurred or happened.’
Hon. Justice Garba Lawal’s Judgment put paid to what the Supreme Court considers as an unwholesome act; which is abandoning Owerri, where all the events and cause of action happened (the National Convention of APGA which took place on May 31, 2019, at Owerri); and also where all the parties directly involved were at the material time and sojourned to Jigawa.
Therefore, what the Supreme Court did by its May 9, 2022 Judgment was to return Chief Edozie Njoku to his RIGHTFUL position as the National Chairman of APGA.
Observably, from the trial Court at Jigawa to the Supreme Court, the Convention in contention was Owerri Convention.
Victor Ike Oye claimed that he emerged from a Convention in Awka and not Owerri; where Chief Edozie Njoku was unanimously elected as the National Chairman of the Party at the Party’s National Convention at Owerri on May 31, 2019. Oye has no business with Owerri Convention.
Finally, whether I am a party to the suit or not does not invalidate the content and substance of the matter which the Supreme Court took into consideration to deliver their Judgment.
Victor Oye cannot possibly be a beneficiary of the Owerri Convention. On what basis is INEC recognizing him?
We shall remain focused and see the end of this.