The Supreme Court has affirmed the emergence of Sly Ezeokenwa as the authentic National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, thereby putting to rest the protracted leadership crisis in the party.
In two unanimous judgements, a five-member panel of the apex court held that Edozie Njoku was wrongly laying claim to APGA Chairmanship.
The apex court held that its earlier judgement delivered on October 14, 2021 which was corrected on March 24, 2023, and on which Njoku purportedly relied to lay claim to APGA Chairmanship, did not confer on him any enforceable rights.
The court held that, in the 2021 judgement, only declaratory reliefs were granted, which were not executory, as there was
no order or orders in the judgement to be executed.
The panel noted that, in the earlier judgement, the Supreme Court particularly held that the issue of party’s leadership or who becomes the Chairman of a political party was internal to the political party and was not justiciable, noting that it was wrong for Njoku to have gone before the lower court to seek to enforce a judgement that had nothing to be enforced as no executory reliefs were granted.
The court proceeded to set aside the judgement delivered by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on June 28, 2024, affirming the judgement of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT which had declared Njoku Chairman of APGA.
The court awarded N20 million on each appeal against two members of Njoku’s faction (who are listed as first and second respondents), bringing the total cost awarded in the three appeals to N60 million.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
