APGA in Fresh Crisis as Okafor Asks Court to Stop Oye from Parading Himself as Chairman

By Tobi Soniyi In Abuja

The acting National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Ozo Nwabueze Okafor, has asked an Abuja High Court to stop Dr. Victor Oye from parading him as the National Chairman of APGA.

 Oye was APGA’s National Chairman until his suspension from office by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on October 5, 2016, over alleged breach of APGA’s constitution.

The party’s NEC members had met  in October and indicted Oye and the Deputy National Chairman, North, Alhaji Abubakar Adamu, Deputy National Chairman, South and Chief Uchenna Okogbuo who are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants in this suit respectively of “gross misconduct and infractions.”

In a motion on notice brought pursuant to Section 6 (6) of the 1999 Constitution, order 7 Rules (1) and (2) of the FCT’s High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2004 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court, Okafor through his lawyer, Mr. Godwin Ogboji, is praying the court for the following relief.

“An order of interlocutory injunction restraining Oye from further parading himself as the national chairman of APGA  during the subsistence of his suspension from the office pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit already pending before this  court.

In the suit marked: M/10421/16 dated October 7, 2016, Okafor and APGA who are the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs in the matter, predicated their application on four grounds.

They argued that Okafor was appointed recently as the acting National Chairman of APGA, a duly registered political party in Nigeria.

“That despite the suspension from office of the defendants, they are still illegally parading themselves as officers of the party.

“That the plaintiff/Applicant’s rights as the acting National Chairman of APGA as a duly registered political party in Nigeria is still subsisting and this right of the plaintiff is being flagrantly violated by the acts and deeds of the defendants.

“An order of this honourable court is required by the plaintiff/applicant to restrain the defendants/respondents from further parading themselves as officers of the All Progressives Grand Alliance during the subsistence of their suspension from office.”

In an 11-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Samuel Akpenpuun, a legal practitioner, the plaintiffs stated that all the elected members and the Executives as well as the NWC of APGA swore to uphold the constitution of the party with the attendant consequences of the breach thereof.

They disclosed that despite having sworn to uphold the constitution of APGA, “the defendants soon after their election acted as if they were sent to destroy APGA, started violently violating different provisions of APGA’S constitution to the detriment of the progress and growth of the party.

“The defendants alone with a very few members of the party against extant provisions of the constitution hijacked the making of regulations to govern the nomination and/or election of candidates for elective positions which is the responsibility of the NWC of the party.

“That the 1st defendant and his cohorts in utter disregard for the NEC usurped the responsibility of the NEC by solely ratifying the party primaries for gubernatorial and other elective positions in Kogi, Edo, Bayelsa and Abia States.

“That apart from illegally and forcefully occupying the office of the Chairman of the party, the 1st defendant severally ordered the assault and battery of members of the Executive and National Working Committee as the National Youth Leader was recently injured by thugs.”