APGA Leadership Tussle Ends as Supreme Court Declares Ezeokenwa Chairman

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has confirmed Sly Ezeokenwa as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

The judgment was delivered by Justice Stephen Adah on Wednesday.

The court’s five-member panel, in two unanimous judgments, ruled that Edozie Njoku’s claim to the party chairmanship position was illegal.

The panel stated that the reliefs granted in its 2021 judgment were only declaratory and not executory, as there was no order in the 2021 judgment to be enforced.

It further noted that its earlier position on the matter was that it was an internal party dispute.

Njoku had approached the lower court to seek enforcement of the judgment, a move the apex court found to be flawed.

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Justice Adah explained that the judges of the trial court and the Court of Appeal, who declared Njoku as the APGA chairman, were wrong to have entertained his legal suit.

The Court of Appeal judgment in Abuja, delivered on June 28, 2024, which affirmed the Federal Capital Territory High Court’s verdict declaring Njoku as the APGA chairman, was set aside by the Supreme Court.

According to the apex court, its earlier judgment in the appeal marked SC/CV/687/2021, delivered on October 14, 2021, and corrected on March 24, 2023, upon which Njoku relied to stake his claim, did not confer any enforceable rights on him.

The Supreme Court awarded N20 million in costs on each of the three appeals against two members of the Njoku-led faction, who were listed as the 1st and 2nd respondents, bringing the total cost to N60 million.

Ezeokenwa commended the judiciary for putting an end to the party’s leadership tussle.

“We should not always criticize the judiciary. Today, I am very proud of our judiciary as the last hope of the common man.

“As I have always said, our judiciary will always rise to save our nation when needed. That is what it has done today with the erudite judgments delivered by the Supreme Court concerning the leadership of our party.

“As our lead counsel, Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), said, what ought not to have happened was created and dragged up to the Supreme Court. It is unfortunate. Money has been spent, and the party’s structures destabilized just because of someone’s selfish and inordinate ambition,” he said.