Njoku Decries INEC Chairman’s Alleged Contempt of Court on APGA Crisis

•Okorie demands Yakubu’s resignation

Alex Enumah in Abuja and Segun James in Lagos

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Edozie Njoku, has blamed the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, for his alleged refusal to implement the judgements of various courts of competent jurisdiction concerning the party.

Blaming INEC for the renewed apprehension in the party, he said the Supreme Court’s ruling on the true leadership of APGA has created room for suspense and speculation.

The APGA national chairman, who spoke to some senior journalists in Lagos, noted that while the commission promptly recognised Jude Okoye as national chairman after his purported suspension, Yakubu had continued to foot-drag after the apex court determined the matter.

He disclosed that two members of the party, who were peeved by Yakubu’s alleged double standards, decided to drag him to court for contempt, culminating in the conviction of the INEC chairman for contempt of court last November.

“Now, Nigerians should join me to ask the INEC chairman, Prof. Yakubu, why he prefers to risk a jail term rather than abiding by the Supreme Court’s decision on APGA leadership.

“The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court presided by Justice M. A. Madugu, in apparent effort to enforce the apex court’s judgment convicted Yakubu for contempt, but deferred sentencing to give room for the INEC chairman and erstwhile chairman of APGA, Ike Oye, to purge themselves of the contempt charge,” Njoku stated.

While noting that the INEC chairman is already a “jail bird”, the APGA national chairman recalled how he was wrongfully sent to Kuje prison for allegedly forging the Supreme Court judgment that affirmed him as the authentic national chairman of APGA.

He noted that while he was facing trial on two counts of forgery and impersonation, he wrote the Federal Ministry of Justice under Abubakar Malami, praying the then Attorney General to confirm the veracity of apex court judgment and recognise him as APGA chairman.

“The justice ministry wrote back to me stressing that I was still in court over the alleged forgery,” he said.

The ministry, he said, wrote that the facts were already the subject of a litigation before the court, stressing that the AGF was legally “estopped” from making any comments or taking any action on the matter during the pendency of the suit.

“Some people ask me, why is there always crisis in APGA? The pertinent question that should be directed to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is, why are you causing crisis in APGA. Because, once the Supreme Court has deliberated over any matter there is no further crisis or contention.

“People refer to INEC website and cite a different person as national chairman. If Mahmood is there subverting justice, and you now stand on it and justify the website, why should he retain a lie on the website after the Supreme Court has spoken? Why?” Njoku queried.

The APGA chairman called on Yakubu to act on the Supreme Court judgment the same way he did when he recognised Timipre Sylva as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the Appeal Court upturned the judgment of the lower court that barred him from the recent Bayelsa state governorship poll.

Also, Njoku, has observed that the INEC chairman cannot be bigger than the country and the laws of the land, querying Yakubu’s interest in the APGA’s leadership case.

The APGA boss while addressing journalists on Wednesday at the Court of Appeal, Abuja, called on the president to call the INEC chairman to order.

“It’s not just that INEC is not obeying a Supreme Court judgment delivered on March 24, 2023; INEC has also disobeyed an injunction and an order of a High Court of the FCT, Bwari, to recognise me as the National Chairman of APGA.

“Instead of INEC to obey the enforcement judgment of the High Court or appeal same, they rushed and got a stay on a committal charge, which had given them 14-day grace period to purge themselves of contempt.

“The court has come out to say that INEC Chairman is in contempt of court and Victor Oye who submitted the names and held a congress and convention is also in contempt.

“But that’s not our problem. We are calling on Nigerians, we are calling on President Bola Tinubu and also calling on the Attorney General of the Federation to look into the issue, where it is that a parastatal can get a stay from the Court of Appeal, on a committal judgment that already had been given”, APGA’s chairman said.

Njoku, who further faulted Yakubu and Oye’s reliance on the ‘stay’ to flout and disobey a direct order of the court, urged every well meaning Nigerian to appeal to the INEC Chairman to obey a valid order of the court.

The APGA national chairman has expressed the readiness of the party for the forthcoming Edo and Ondo elections.

He disclosed that party primaries for the governorship elections in the two States are expected to commence next week and last for about one month, adding that the party’s timetable will soon be out.

Meanwhile, the founding chairman of the APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie has asked the chairman of INEC to resign immediately for refusing to obey the ruling of the Supreme Court on the protracted leadership crisis in the party.

He lamented that the crisis is being prolong by the refusal of the commission to recognise Njoku as the national chairman of the party.

“This impunity cannot continue. This political insanity has to stop. The acceptance of candidates by the 2nd Respondent that are products of the congress presided over by the 1st Respondent, Chief Victor Ike Oye, held on 31st May, 2023, in defiance of the order of this court made on 10th May, 2023, is undoubtedly an affront to order of this court under review,” Okorie lamented

Okorie recalled that it was the refusal of Yakubu to obey the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on March 24, 2023, which affirmed  Njoku as the national chairman of APGA that compelled Lateef Ogidan and  Rabiu Mustapha, members of the National Working Committee of APGA to approach the FCT High Court for the enforcement of the Supreme Court judgment.

He said: “Neither Prof. Mahmood Yakubu nor INEC has appealed against the judgment that found him guilty of contempt of court orders, but curiously, Chief Victor Oye, on November 28, 2023, managed to secure an order of the Court of Appeal restraining the FCT High Court from proceeding with the sentencing of the contemnors which was to take place next day on the 29th of November, 2023.

“ It is rare to arrest the sentencing of  contemnors who have been found guilty of contempt of court orders, but this is Nigeria where anything is possible.

“Patriots like me will not stop to speak out until the mess in our country is resolved to a reasonable extent. I call on the Hon. Minister of Justice, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offenses Commission (ICPC) the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).