Edozie Njoku: What the public, INEC, security agents should know

 By Ijere Amadi, APGA Founding member

I have waited for quite some time for commonsense to prevail, to no avail. I have also waited for security agents to do their job to no avail. I have waited with eager expectation for genuine APGA members all over the country to rise up and defend our party.

For how long are we going to wait before we do the right thing to stem the tide of foolery, subterfuge and open abuse of our laws by persons whom I can best describe as political fugitives.

I have been long in APGA to tell the story behind its rise to where it is today. I have been there right from its inception till date. I have seen it all and heard it all. There is nothing anybody can tell me again about the party. I knew the actors from the time of Chekwas Okorie as its first National Chairman to Victor Umeh and now to the incumbent and undisputable national chairman, Victor Ikechukwu Oye.

I was there when Chekwas Okorie (who is now mischievously claiming to be the presidential candidate of APGA) burnt his fingers after being accused of malfeasance. He was immediately removed and expelled from the party, which was later upheld by the Supreme Court. Victor Umeh, the then National Treasurer, stepped into his shoes. I knew all that transpired from the time Victor Umeh came into office as national chairman till he handed over to Victor Ikechukwu Oye. I was also privy to the schism and plots to remove Victor Umeh from office at the onset; the power-play among the NWC members then and the Enugu High Court judgment that removed Umeh temporarily. I was also there when Umeh challenged his removal – from the Court of Appeal up to the Supreme Court. The final judgment in Umeh’s suit was delivered in January 2016 when Victor Oye was already in office.

I was there also when then Governor Peter Obi and Rochas Okorocha were the only APGA governors. I was also there when Rochas joined APC and Peter Obi left for PDP. I also witnessed the intrigues and struggles that followed after Peter Obi chose and worked for the emergence of Willie Obiano as his successor in 2013/2014.

To be honest with you the reader, APGA has never had a smooth ride in all of its existence. It has always been one distraction after another.

Along the line, during Umeh’s tenure, then Governor Peter Obi sought to remove him for no explicable reason. He temporarily installed Enugu-State-born Maxi Okwu as acting National Chairman of APGA after the Enugu High Court removed Umeh in a strange judgment over the leadership crisis in the party. Maxi Okwu didn’t last as Peter Obi and Victor Umeh suddenly reconciled shortly before Obiano was chosen as his successor.

Umeh ruled for 11 years and handed over to Victor Oye at the party’s national convention held at the Dora Akunyili International Conference Centre in Awka on June 6, 2015.

Victor Oye swung into action, introducing far-reaching changes. Less than one year in office the hawks came again to cause disaffection in the party. This time it was an internal insurrection engineered from outside. They targeted some NWC members – six of them – led by one Ozo Nwabueze (who is now late). Ozo Nwabueze tried to surreptitiously remove Oye by filing a suit at an Abuja Federal High Court without serving Oye. As God would have it the information leaked and Oye and his legal team swung into action by filing their defence.

The suit was filed in July 2016 and dragged on till November 9, 2016 when Oye’s legal team filed a stay at the Court of Appeal, Abuja demanding that the judge of the Federal High Court 4, Abuja recuse himself.

On December 21, 2016 a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of APGA was convened by Victor Oye to deal with the issue of rebellion by some NWC members of the party who were eventually expelled by the party the same day. Unfortunately, in the early hours of December 28, 2016, one of the six expelled members, Ozo Nwabueze died.

The intrigues in the patty took a new turn when on January 8, 2017 some mischievous members of the party used the burial of Ozo Nwabueze in Enugu to hatch another plot to remove Victor Oye from office as National Chairman. It was at that meeting that one Martin Agbaso – who was neither a member or officer of the party at the time – was lured to claim to be the acting National Chairman of the party.

Martin Agbaso himself did not ask questions and dived into the milieu and got himself hooked. He became the ‘acting National Chairman’ without a single NWC member on his side or any office to operate from. The plot was aimed at extorting money from then Governor Willie Obiano who was preparing to go for a second term in office. The plot was well-choreographed by the mischief-makers, but the whole thing lacked legality, constitutionality and morality. Therefore, it failed.

The plotters took their game to another level when on May 22, 2017 they obtained a judgment (an order of Mandamus to compel INEC to recognize Martin Agbaso as the acting National Chairman of APGA) from an Enugu High Court presided over by Justice Ozoemena. When the case was subjected to legal scrutiny at the Court of Appeal, Enugu it collapsed as a pack of cards and Oye was reaffirmed as the National Chairman of APGA. The judgment was enough to put the hawks at bay for Obiano to participate and win a Second Term in office as governor.

The case was finally put to rest by the Supreme Court, Abuja on July 13, 2018 which upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Enugu, that affirmed Oye as national chairman. Knowing that the game was up, they retreated, unlike in the extant situation where one Edozie Njoku after the judgement of the Supreme Court on October 14, 2021 (in the case he was not even a party to) is curiously parading a doctored copy of the same judgement looking for whom to hoodwink. We will come to that later.

There was peace in the party until May 31, 2019 when APGA held its National Convention in Awka in which Oye was elected into office for a second term of four years. He was elected along with 30 other members of the National Working Committee (NWC) and 36 Board of Trustees (BoT) members. The convention went through due process and was successful, despite the plots by the hawks again to scuttle it through a plethora of suits filed outside of jurisdiction at Orerokpe and Kwale in Delta State. The two suits were however struck out in the end for lack of merit and jurisdictional competence. One of the suits died at Asaba Branch of the Court of Appeal.

It is however proper to state here that the Awka National Convention of APGA was monitored by INEC. The team from INEC Abuja was led by an erudite Professor, Anthonia Simbine, accompanied by a retinue of other senior staff from the commission. It was a successful convention as attested to by the INEC monitors in its report. Neither Edozie Njoku nor Chekwas Okorie was present at the National Convention in Awka, because they were not members of APGA. To state it unequivocally, Chekwas Okorie was a member of APC at the time while Edozie Njoku was in political oblivion.

Curiously, the same May 31, 2019 news broke out on the social media that one Edozie Njoku had declared himself ‘National Chairman’ of APGA in a ‘covention’ allegedly held in Owerri, Imo State. For any rational person there was no way INEC would have monitored two conventions of the same party the same day. So it was easy to deduce that what Edozie Njoku said he held in Owerri was a kangaroo one because INEC wasn’t even aware of it let alone monitor it. That Njoku had the temerity to conjure such a criminal claim was enough to arrest and jail him. Painfully, he was allowed by law enforcement agencies to get away with it, despite repeated appeals to them to get him arrested.

Because he was not reprimanded or punished in any way at all, he has had the effrontery to continue with his march to infamy and notoriety.

It was not therefore surprising that he travelled all the way to Bauchi to file a suit at a Federal High Court against Victor Oye – seeking the order of Mandamus to compel INEC to recognize him as the National Chairman of APGA. He didn’t care that the suit lacked territorial jurisdiction. He flagrantly chose a lawyer by himself for INEC and APGA and tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the judge in Bauchi. But the judge showed courage and was suspicious of the suit and ordered that it should be transferred to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Courts to assign it to another judge. That was how the suit was transferred to Justice AR Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The suit before Justice Mohammed witnessed some lull when APGA legal team led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN raised a preliminary objection leading to the filing of an action at the Court of Appeal, Abuja. In its ruling the Court agreed that there was a need for it to hear the suit.

While that suit was adjourned sine die, something of a mockery took place in Abuja: A band of disgruntled elements gathered at a hotel in Garki, Abuja in the guise of APGA NEC. It was covered live by the AIT. After the mockery and absurdity it announced the suspension of Ozonkpu Victor Ike Oye as national chairman and the emergence of one Jude Okeke as ‘acting national chairman’. This was the biggest heist and mockery ever witnessed in Nigeria’s political theatre, where impostors (none of them was a member of APGA) would gather and allot offices to themselves.

The security agencies still allowed them to go scot-free. Emboldened by the apathy shown by security agencies they went to a Birnin Kudu High Court to procure a kangaroo judgment, asking INEC to recognize one Jude Okeke (a non-existent person who was alleged to have died in 2017) as acting national chairman. Immediately they procured this judgment they rushed to Court of Appeal, Kano to file an appeal with the intent of hoodwooking the Court to enter judgment in their favour – banking on the judgement of the Birnin Kudu High Court.

Why did he (Jude Okeke if he ever existed) leave the South East and travelled as far as to Birni Kudu in Jigawa State to procure a judgment? It was at the Court of Appeal, Kano  that the legal team of APGA filed an application to seek the permission of the Court to join Victor Oye as a party to the suit. That was so because the impostors craftily didn’t want to include Oye’s name as that would give them away easily. But how could they have filed a suit which outcome would affect Oye without recourse to fair hearing? Blinded by greed and wickedness they pursued their selfish cause unstopped.

Edozie Njoku also filed an appeal in Kano seeking to be recognised as ‘acting national chairman’ in place of Jude Okeke.

While ruling on Njoku’s application, the Court of Appeal, Kano dismissed his suit and upheld Oye’s joinder application.

In its well-considered judgment of August 10, 2021 the Court of Appeal, Kano dismissed the judgment of the Birnin Kudu High Court as an abuse of court process and lacking in merit. It upheld the judgment of an Anambra State High Court sitting in Awka and presided over by Justice C.C. Okaa. Justice Okaa had ruled explicitly that Victor Oye is the authentic national chairman of APGA. He directed INEC not to recognize or accept any nominations from either Edozie Njoku or Jude Okeke. The court also affirmed the National Convention of APGA held in Awka where Victor Oye was elected for a second term.

Not satisfied Jude Okeke proceeded to the Supreme Court. The suit, APPEAL NO.CA/KN/146/2021 SC/CV/687/2021 that Jude Okeke filed was Jude Okeke Vs

1. APGA

2. Dr. Victor Ike Oye (not Edozie Njoku as he, Njoku, claims)

3. Alhaji Rabiu Garba Aliyu

4. Independent National Electoral Commission

After listening to the parties above the court fixed October 14, 2021 for judgment. In its judgment the court affirmed the judgment of Court of Appeal, Kano and dismissed the appeal by Jude Okeke. It also dismissed Edozie Njoku’s application for joinder and all other motions before the apex court. It also awarded a cost of N1,000,000 each against the appellant, in favour of Victor Oye and APGA. The judgement cost is yet to be paid.

On the strength of that judgment, INEC restored Prof. Charles Soludo’s name as the candidate of APGA for the Anambra State Governorship Election. It replaced Chukwuma Umeoji’s name with that of Soludo on August 19, 2021.

Back to the suit filed at the Court of Appeal, Abuja raising preliminary objection to the suit filed by Edozie Njoku before Justice AR Mohammed of Federal High Court, Abuja. The Court of Appeal, Abuja directed the Federal High Court, Abuja to conclude hearing on the suit and deliver judgment. Even though the suit had been overtaken by events since the Supreme Court had already emphatically decided the leadership of APGA in favour of Victor Oye, the Federal High Court, Abuja sat on April 6, 2022 and gave judgement. It struck out Njoku’s suit as an abuse of court process.

From the blues, on May 9 this year, Edozie Njoku started parading a judgment which he purported was reviewed by the Supreme Court. Investigation at the apex court showed that Edozie Njoku doctored the judgment to suit his egocentricity.

Contrary to the stories he is bandying about, the Supreme Court never reviewed any judgment or recognised him as national chairman of APGA.

Let me ask Edozie Njoku some questions: Were the legal teams of all the parties in the suit a part of the so-called review? Was he a party to the suit that was dismissed by the Supreme Court on October 14, 2021? Did INEC monitor his so-called Convention which he claimed he held at Owerri on May 31, 2019?

What Edozie Njoku is doing is to resort to blackmail to whip up sentiments in order to arouse undue sympathy. But that is not working.

From the above it is undisputable that Edozie Njoku and his cohorts are back to their usual game of subterfuge, blackmail and deceit.

Though the matter is being investigated by the police, I think the police should not hesitate to arrest Edozie Njoku and his collaborators and charge them to court, where they should answer vital questions and prove their innocence, if any.

Inside of me, I am burning with anger because this man has been allowed to serially cause confusion, deceive and extort people.

Edozie Njoku has been calling unsuspecting persons to come to him and procure forms to participate in a non-existent primary. These persons have been chasing him all over the place to recover their money. And he has gone into hiding. Should this type of ignoble thing be allowed to happen in any decent society?

I must not fail to commend INEC for standing up in defence of our democracy. INEC has shown that it is an unbiased umpire and has played the role of regulator efficiently. I wonder if anybody would just wake up one day and begin to lay claim to the Managing Director of a bank when he or she has no business with the bank. It is the Central Bank that knows who the managing directors of the banks it regulates are. It is the same thing with INEC. It is only INEC that can tell who the recognized chairmen of registered political parties in Nigeria are.

The National Judicial Council should step into the matter immediately and deal decisively with all those involved in this questionable and condemnable act in order to save our judiciary and democracy from opprobrium.