From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The lingering legal battle over the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) came to an end Wednesday with the judgment of the Supreme Court affirming Sylvester Ezeokenwa as the authentic National Chairman of the party.
A five-member panel of the apex court in two unanimous judgments, held that the claim by Chief Edozie Njoku to APGA Chairmanship has no legal backings.
It was the position of the Supreme Court that its earlier judgment on the appeal marked: SC/CV/687/2021, delivered on October 14, 2021 which was corrected on March 24,2023, and on which Njoku purportedly relied to lay claim to APGA Chairmanship, did not confer on him any enforceable rights.
Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgment, held that, in the 2021 judgment, only declaratory reliefs were granted, which were not executory.
He also held that there was no order or orders in the 2021 judgment to be executed.
Justice Adah noted that, in the earlier judgment, the Supreme Court particularly held that the issue of party’s leadership or who becomes the Chairman of a political party was internal to the political party and was not justiciable.
He further held that it was wrong for Njoku to have gone before the lower court to seek to enforce a judgment that had nothing to be enforced as no executory reliefs were granted.
Justice Adah, who urged judges of the lower courts to be cautious, held that the judges of the trial court and the Court of Appeal, who declared Njoku Chairman of APGA were wrong to have heard the suit by Njoku.
He proceeded to set aside the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on June 28, 2024, affirming the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which had declared Njoku Chairman of APGA.
The judgment in both appeals were applied to the third appeal, relating to the same issue of APGA leadership.
The court awarded N20 million on each appeal against two members of the Njoku faction (who are listed as first and second respondents), bringing the total cost awarded in the three appeals to N60m.
The three appeals are SC/CV/824/2024 : APGA & another vs. Chief Victor Ike Oye & others; SC/CV/825/2024: Chief Victor Ike Oye vs. Otunba Kamaru Lateef Ogidan & 2 others, and Chief Victor Ike Oye vs. Otunba Kamaru Lateef Ogidan & 2 others.
Reacting to the judgments, Ezeokenwa commended the Judiciary for effectively putting an end to the leadership dispute in the party and affirming him and the Chairman.
He noted that with its erudite judgments, given on Wednesday, the court has, once again, proved that it is indeed, the hope of the common man.
Ezeokenwa said “We should not always be saying bad things against the Judiciary. Today, I am very proud of our Judiciary as the last hope of the common man.
“like I have always said, our Judiciary will always come through to save our nation when the need arises. That is what it has done today with the erudite judgments delivered today by the Supreme Court concerning the leadership of our party.
“Like our lead counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu said, what ought not to have taken place was created and has been dragged up to the Supreme Court. It is unfortunate. Money has been expended and party’s structures destabilised just because of someone’s selfish and inordinate ambition.
“The judgments today have affirmed the convention that brought us to office and that we are in charge of the running of the party’s affairs.
“So, there’s no longer speculation or doubt about the actual leadership of APGA. By the judgments, I, Sly Ezeokenwa has been affirmed as the Chairman of APGA,” he said.
