Chukwuma Charles Soludo, Governor of Anambra State, may now have reasons to take a breather, following the decision of the Supreme Court to restore Sylvester Ezeokenwa as the authentic leader of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), ending the claim of Edozie Njoku to the office.
The development came with the apex court upholding the appeal by the faction of the party earlier recognising Ezeokenwa as its National Chairman, which seems to have now put the leadership crisis in the party to an end permanently.
Not only did the apex court, which made its pronouncement on Wednesday, authenticate Ezeokenwa’s leadership, it also awarded an N20 million fine against Njoku for filing a frivolous suit at FCT High Court, Bwari.
It is coming on the heels of the decision of Justice James Omotosho, of the Federal High Court in Abuja, restraining Njoku from parading himself as the national chairman of the party, after holding that there was no valid court judgment or order, including a judgment from the Supreme Court, that recognised him as APGA national chairman.
Ezeokenwa, alongside APGA, had filed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/966/2024, filed the suit with the originating summons on 12 July, against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) kicked against the recognition of Njoku by the commission.
While APGA and Ezeokenwa were recognized as the first and second plentiffs, Njoku and INEC were recognized as the first and second defendants, respectively, as part of the protest that followed the removal of the names of Ezeokenwa, a legal practitioner, and his executive officers from the INEC website, and the replacement of same by the names of the Njoku-led leadership of APGA by the electoral umpire on 9 July.
Omotosho, who held that INEC was wrong to have recognised the Njoku-led leadership of the party, had stated: “There is no subsisting court order upon which it acted. The decision of the Supreme Court was clear as to who the national chairman should be and it is certainly not Chief Edozie Njoku.
“Chief Victor Oye was in fact recognised by law. Furthermore, at the expiration of his (Oye’s) tenure in 2023, a national convention was held on 31st May 2023 in Awka, Anambra State which produced the 2nd Plaintiff (Ezeokenwa) and other persons as national executives.
“The 1st defendant (INEC) monitored same and issued report (Exhibit APGA 1). There is nothing before this court faulting the election of 2nd plaintiff and his executive team as the rightful occupants of the national executive of the party.
“The Ist defendant must, therefore, restore their names as the National Executive Officers of All Progressives Grand Alliance party.”
Omotoso, while stating that the Supreme Court had settled the matter in the case between Njoku and Oye on who the valid national chairman of the party was in suit number: SC/CV/687/2021 dated March 24, 2023, held that the Supreme Court did not alter the substance of the judgment delivered on 14 October 2021.
He noted: “The Supreme Court did not alter the substance of the judgement affirming the judgment of the Court of Appeal which set aside the judgment of the High Court of Jigawa and held that who should be the acting national chairman of the party is within the confines of the internal affairs of the party which is not justiciable.
“There is clearly no order by the Supreme Court recognising Chief Edozie Njoku as chairman of the party and it is a wonder how the Ist defendant could have claimed that its action was based on a purported court order,” he added.