APGA crisis: CJN letter signals impending changes to slate of nominees

• Njoku hails recognition of Supreme Court as president

Indications of an impending shift in the list of candidates submitted by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 general election emerged yesterday.

The APGA had been embroiled in a protracted leadership crisis following its May 2019 national convention, leading to the existence of two rival factions, one led by leader Edozie Njoku and the other under former national president, Ozonkpu Victor Ike Oye. The two factions held parallel special conventions that featured different candidates ranging from presidential, national assembly, gubernatorial, and state assembly candidates.

But the Supreme Court recognized Njoku as the genuine National President of APGA, advising him of the final processes leading to the court listing order through a letter from the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Judge Olukayode Ariwola. In the letter, which was signed by the Chief Registrar, Hajo Sarki Bello, dated January 19, 2023, the Supreme Court acknowledged receipt of Njoku's letter requesting the Supreme Court to make genuine corrections in the judgment SC/ CV/687/2021. Part of the letter read: “I am instructed by the Honorable Chief Justice of Nigeria to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated October 7, 2022, in which, by way of letter, to the Honorable Justice Mary Peter Odili, JSC rtd., you requested the correction of a bordereau on page 13 lines 3-4 of the judgment (in which the name of Chief Victor Oye was mentioned by mistake instead of Chief Edozie Njoku, the current suspended president of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

"What you should have done was bring an application under Order 8, Rule 16, of the Rules of this Court, to correct the accidental slip in the judgment." Reacting to the development, Njoku praised the Supreme Court for recognizing his position as party chairman, noting that Nigeria's Chief Justice, Justice Ariwola and other prominent Supreme Court Justices have thwarted attempts by politicians desperate to bring the Nigerian justice system into international infamy. He said, “We wish to thank the Nigerian judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, for putting an end to the dispute over the leadership of APGA.

“The Court had long since settled the case recognizing SC/CV/687/2021, that the lawsuit filed by Chief Edozie Njoku against Chief Jude Okeke over the Jigawa issue. overzealous, led by Chief Ike Oye, who was not a party to the pursuit, caused this delay."

Furthermore, APGA's presidential candidate for the leadership of Njoku, Chief Chekwas Okorie, said, "Njoku was upheld by the Supreme Court only when he presented a corrected judgment dated May 9 2002, he was right, he was factual and the INEC party to the lawsuit also got the same corrected judgment served on them."

Regretting that INEC's hesitation on the issue had caused the APGA to lose vital time to join the campaigns, Okorie, who is also the founding president, said: "The election campaign officially started on 28 September 2022 and APGA has been excluded from participation until that time.

"This letter now comes from the Supreme Court recognizing Edozie Njoku as the national chairman of the party and now advising to approach them through this request, a letter that should have been written a long time ago." On whether the party would ask for the election to be postponed, Okorie said, “INEC can no longer have any justification to continue to deny the genuine APGA led by Chief Edozie Njoku as National President to participate. actively and fully in the process, with the exception of INEC. is determined to jeopardize the 2023 elections.

“I am the presidential candidate; the National Labor Committee will certainly seek the advice of a very informed legal opinion to do what it has to do. But the INEC should also take into account the disadvantage that 'she placed at the APGA by her recalcitrance and finding a way to reduce the damage.

"I don't think it will help any party, including the people of Nigeria who are so looking forward to this election, to take the matter to court and support a stay of all action until the APGA is fully satisfied. I think the INEC should be proactive now despite the fact that they were very active in the plot against the APGA,” Okorie said.