Politics
APGA Leadership Tussle: Njoku Wants INEC To Implement S’Court Judgment
National chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Edozie Njoku has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to accord him full recognition, following the judgement of the Supreme Court on the party’s leadership tussle.
Njoku who petitioned the Supreme Court to revisit what he called “the error” it its earlier ruling on the matter, noted that apex court did the needful on May 9 this year, lamenting however, that that INEC is yet to obey the judgment 34 days after it was given.
In a letter addressed to the chairman of the commission and copied President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila among others, Njoku wondered why the electoral umpire appears reluctant to obey the judgment of the highest court in the land.
Titled, “Ignoring Supreme Court Judgment: A threat to democracy,” Njoku stated: “Prior to the Anambra governorship election, the two APGA factions under the leadership of Dr. Victor Ike Oye and myself were locked in keen competition, as to who was the authentic National Chairman of APGA, and which Convention of the two factions conducted in Owerri and in Awka was legitimate.
“However, before any of us could submit names of candidates to INEC, Chief Jude Okeke rushed to Birnin Kudu in Jigawa State and filed a suit, in Suit No: JDU/022/2021. The suit was between Alhaji Garba Aliyu and Chief Jude Okeke and two others.
“Clearly, the Jigawa judgement affirmed the Owerri Convention and my suspension as National Chairman of APGA. Instantly, INEC obeyed the Jigawa Judgement declaring Jude Okeke as the National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Kindly note that Chief Victor Oye was neither a party to the suit nor was he mentioned in the entire matter.
“Surprisingly, at the Kano Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, the APGA leadership tussle was erroneously resolved in favour of Dr. Victor Ike Oye on October 14, 2021. In less than 24 hours, in total reverence to the Supreme Court Judgement, INEC replaced Jude Okeke’s name with that of Dr. Victor Ike Oye as the rightful National Chairman of APGA.
“Seven months later, our legal team discovered that Oye’s name was wrongly inserted where Njoku’s name ought to have been. On May 6, 2022, APGA as a Party called the attention of the Supreme Court to this fundamental error through a letter to Hon. Justice Mary Peter- Odili and other four Justices on that panel; requesting the Justices of the Panel to revisit the matter in line with the extant law.
“The Supreme Court Panel headed by Justice Mary Peter Odili committed time and energy to understudy the case and afterwards, the lead Judgement containing the error was rectified on May 9, 2022.
“Sir, for the purposes of clarity, Order 8 Rule 16 of the Supreme Court of Nigeria states: ‘the Supreme Court can Suo Motu or by a letter (application), review any judgment once given and delivered by it save to correct any clerical mistake or some error arising from any accidental slip or omission, or to vary the judgment or order so as to give effect to its meaning or intention’. This was what the Supreme Court relied on in this instance.”
The letter further read: “Now that the Supreme Court Judgement is in my favour, INEC has continued to prevaricate for over 34 ( Thirty Four Days now)! This is very unfortunate and seriously worrisome as it is a great threat to Nigerian democracy and rule of law! It is very insensitive and a very terrible precedence for your office to fail to or continue to delay the implementation of the judgement of Nigeria Supreme Court.
“Honourable Chairman, in spite of the two letters that we have written to your office requesting the Commission’s compliance with the said Supreme Court judgement, thirty four days (34) has gone and the Commission has continued to play a very dangerous and debilitative mind game on a matter that bothers on the survival or otherwise of the Party.
“I am as curious as any other Nigerian as to why it has taken this long for a Supreme Court judgment to be obeyed. It has never taken this long for the Commission to acknowledge Court judgements, considering the fact this is the same Suit that gave Jude Okeke the National Chairmanship of APGA at the Lower Court, which was swiftly complied with by INEC. When the Supreme Court erroneously gave Oye victory, INEC still obliged him.
“Few days ago, INEC resolved the issue of who is the authentic Presidential candidate of Labour Party. We are not unaware of the pressures and sensations that the APGA leadership tussle has attracted, but, doing the right thing would be walking the path less traveled by many and that would make all the difference.
“Permit me to digress a bit. Our journey in APGA since 2019, was simply to infuse and advance discipline and mainstream the APGA ideology which maintains that political parties are platforms for people to converge, congregate, ventilate and actualize their dreams of how they want their country to be; it is not a platform for primordial, parochial and ulterior pursuits.
“Finally, given your sterling performance and legacies in INEC, it is instructive to state that ‘the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stand in moments of comfort and convenience. Rather, where he stand in moments of challenge and controversy.’
“As posterity beckons, we look forward to your office’s immediate formal recognition as the lawful leadership of APGA in line with the extant laws upon which INEC was created and the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended.”
Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, Budget and Accountability has condemned the defection of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Executive Secretary, Civil Society Coalition for Good Governance, Budget and Accountability, Amb. Emmanuel Nkweke, who said this in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt also described as illegal all legislations passed by the defected lawmakers.
Amb. Nkweke described the defection as “monkey politics’, queried the rational behind the action of the lawmakers few months after being sworn into office, adding that members of the civil society community were yet to be told reasons for the defection.
“Up till now, we are yet to be told why they defected just few months of being sworn into office. For me, that is monkey politics”, he said.
He urged the lawmakers to go back to their former party and beg Rivers people for forgiveness, adding that if that is done, they may be welcomed back.
Amb. Nkweke also cautioned the lawmakers not to allow themselves to be used to do the bidding of an individual, adding that the present administration in the state needs the support of all to move forward.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the group has commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for giving civil societies the latitude to operate freely in the state.
He alleged that civil societies were caged in the last eight years, adding that there was no breathing space for civil societies in the last eight years in the state.
Amb. Nkweke described civil society as the engine room of democracy as it engages in sensitisation on the policies and programmes of government, regretting, however, that their inputs were never taken into considerations.
“Civil societies give signals, civil society creates the awareness and sensitize the people towards achieving a reliable democracy.
‘’i want to let you know, very frankly, that civil society space in Rivers State, for the past eight years, was suffocated. There was no breathing space, they didn’t breathe. Civil society was dead completely”, he said.
Amb. Nkweke said the situation also affected upcoming activists as some of them had to operate from hideouts.
By: John Bibor
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on President Bola Tinubu not to condone incompetent personalities in his government.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, NANS President, Comrade Pedro Obi, expressed concerns about the competence of the Minister of State for Youth Development and the SSA to the President on Student Engagement.
Comrade Obi, after staging a peaceful protest at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), reiterated that the NANS will not be intimidated and will continue to fight for the interests of Nigerian students.
He said, “The message is very simple, we have incompetent people who have been appointed to offices. It’s unfortunate and it’s not the President’s fault, of course he believes in Nigerian youths and has also given us the opportunity to showcase our capacity in various roles that he has given us.
“We have the SSA to the President on Student Engagement, who has shown incompetence. He cannot continue to hold that office and we are calling on Mr. President that he should be sacked with immediate effect.
“Also we have the Minister of State for Youth Development. We are also calling that immediately he should be sacked, because he has left what he ought to do and has dabbled into the affairs of NANS.
“These people have displayed incompetence and are destroying the youth community. There are so many competent youths that President Tinubu can pick from.
“NANS can never be intimidated. This is an organisation that we grew up to meet and we will continue to protect the dignity of this organisation.”
Receiving the NANS on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office in the SGF, Dr. Maurice Nnamdi Mbaeri, assured the NANS of relaying back their complaints to the SGF which he said will land on the listening ears of President Tinubu.
According to him, “I have listened to the complaints you raised. I assure you that your complaints will get to the listening ears of Mr. President.
“Let me assure you that I’m happy this was also re-echoed in the NANS President’s speech that President Tinubu has indebt love for the youths of Nigeria and also for the students of Nigeria. This has been demonstrated by polices that (has) been put in place for the youths.
“I want to assure you that the President has your concerns in his heart and he’s always ever ready to attend to your needs.
“With this, I am going to report back to my boss the SGF, who will take up the matter with the President. I urge you to continue to maintain peace and tranquillity. Don’t do anything that will make Mr. President feel bad about you.”
Former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Iyiorchia Ayu, has withdrawn the court action he instituted against the party over his controversial removal from office barely two years into his four year term.
His action has removed legal impediments likely to militate against the emergence of his replacement from the North Central.
Several meetings have been held and being planned following this new development.
On Tuesday, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) passed a vote of confidence on the Ag. National Chairnan, Amb. Umar Damagum, whom members said has discharged his functions creditably.
It was gathered that the North Central Caucus of the party had long before now started mobilizing to ensure that the zone produces Ayu’s replacement to complete his tenure which expires in 2025.
In a related development, Amb. Damagum has held series of meetings with various groups to perhaps shore up his chances of retaining his seat as acting chairman.
He led the members of the NWC on Wednesday to interact with the PDP National Ex-officio ahead of the NEC meeting.
Immediately after the meeting with them, he led the NWC members to another meeting with the State Party Chairmen from the 36 States, including FCT, Abuja.
The meetings were held at the NEC Hall, PDP National Secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, in Abuja.
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