This morning, Barrister Sly Ezeokenwa secured a major victory over Edozie Njoku and his associates at the Appeal Court in Abuja. The court granted Ezeokenwa permission to appeal an earlier judgment to the Supreme Court.
Contrary to the recent claims made by Edozie Njoku and his supporters, the Appeal Court never instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognize Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in its ruling on June 28, 2024. The confusion surrounding this issue arises from the fact that APGA and its current National Chairman, Barrister Sly Ezeokenwa, were not involved in the original lawsuit filed at the FCT High Court. That case only concerned Victor Ike Oye, the former APGA Chairman.
Edozie Njoku had opposed the granting of leave to appeal, attempting to prevent Ezeokenwa from challenging the Appeal Court’s previous judgment. This judgment had misinterpreted the Supreme Court’s ruling by suggesting that Njoku was the National Chairman referenced in that ruling. Since APGA and Ezeokenwa were not parties to the original suit, they could not have applied for a stay of execution regarding the court’s misinterpretation.
The Appeal Court granted leave to Chief Victor Ike Oye, Barrister Sly Ezeokenwa, and APGA to appeal the court’s decision from June 28, 2024. In its judgment, the Appeal Court made it clear that the case involved a leadership dispute within APGA, yet the party itself and its current National Chairman, Ezeokenwa, were not included in the original appeal. The court therefore found merit in the applications for leave to appeal, leading to approvals under the following case numbers:1. CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/723MI/2024 2. CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/728MI/2024 3. CA/ABJ/PRE/ROA/CV/870MI/2024
These applications allowed Barrister Ezeokenwa and APGA to be recognized as interested parties, granting them the right to appeal. All efforts by Edozie Njoku and his group to block Ezeokenwa and APGA from appealing to the Supreme Court were ultimately unsuccessful, as the Court of Appeal rejected their attempts.
However, the application for a stay of execution filed by Chief Victor Ike Oye was denied, as the issue had already been overtaken by recent events. The legal stage is now set for the Supreme Court to clarify its original judgment from October 14, 2021, and the corrections made on March 24, 2023.
It can be recalled that the Supreme Court had earlier clarified, in documents obtained by APGA in August 2024 and by Edozie Njoku months earlier, that it never directed INEC to recognize Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA. This clarification, which Njoku had withheld, was crucial in misleading the FCT High Court. Further supporting this clarification were earlier documents obtained by Njoku, confirming that INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu had not violated any court order by not recognizing Njoku.
With these developments, the victory for APGA and the Barrister Ezeokenwa-led National Working Committee (NWC) seems increasingly likely. The Supreme Court is expected to reaffirm its stance, bringing an end to the leadership dispute within APGA and solidifying Ezeokenwa’s position as the authentic and validly elected National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
