Supreme Court Fines Njoku N20m, Affirms Ezeokenwa APGA National Chairman

The Supreme Court has affirmed Sly Ezeokenwa as the authentic chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), thereby putting to rest the leadership tussle in the party.

In two unanimous judgments on Wednesday, a five-member panel of the apex court held that Edozie Njoku was wrongly laying claim to APGA chairmanship.

The Supreme Court clarified that its previous judgment in case SC/CV/687/2021, issued on October 14, 2021 (and subsequently corrected on March 24, 2023), which Njoku had cited to support his claim to the APGA chairmanship, does not grant him any legally enforceable rights.

Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Stephen Adah held that in the 2021 judgment, only declaratory reliefs were granted and which were not executory.

Justice Adah noted that the Court in its earlier judgement held that issue of party’s leadership is an internal affair of the political party and was not justiciable.

He further held that it was wrong for Njoku to have gone before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Bwari, to seek to enforce a judgment that had nothing to be enforced as no executory reliefs were granted.

Justice Adah set aside the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on June 28, 2024, which previously affirmed the judgment of the FCT High Court declaring Njoku Chairman of APGA.

The judgment in both appeals were applied to the third appeal, relating to the APGA leadership.

The court awarded the sum of N20m as fine against Edozie Njoku for filing a frivolous suit at the lower court alongside two members of his 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, Ezeokenwa commended the judgement.

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 (SAN) 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 distabilsed 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 is no longer speculation or doubt about the actual leadership of APGA. By the judgments, I, Barrister Sly Ezeokenwa have been affirmed as the Chairman of APGA,” he said.

Supreme Court Fines Njoku N20m, Affirms Ezeokenwa APGA National Chairman is first published on The Whistler Newspaper