From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Factional National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Edozie Njoku, has been warned against parading himself as the National Chairman of the party.
A founding member of the party from Imo State, Mr. Ijere Amadi, maintained that Chief Vitor Oye remains the undisputable National Chairman of the party.
In a statement on Thursday Mr. Amadi said Chief Njoku’s posturing is now detrimental to the peace, unity and growth of the party, and should be checkmated.
He said the time has come for the leaders and well-wishers of the party to rise to the occasion and place Chief Njoku where he rightly belongs to save the party.
He said that contrary to the claims by Njoku that the Supreme Court review returned him as the authentic national Chairman of APGA, the Apex court never in any judgement or review recognized him as the Chairman of the party.
He said “I have waited for quite some time for commonsense to prevail, to no avail. I have also waited for security agents to do their job to no avail. I have waited with eager expectation for genuine APGA members all over the country to rise up and defend our party.
“For how long are we going to wait before we do the right thing to stem the tide of foolery, subterfuge and open abuse of our laws by persons whom I can best describe as political fugitives.
“I have been long in APGA to tell the story behind its rise to where it is today. I have been there right from its inception till date. I have seen it all and heard it all. There is nothing anybody can tell me again about the party. I knew the actors from the time of Chekwas Okorie as its first National Chairman to Victor Umeh and now to the incumbent and undisputable national chairman, Victor Ikechukwu Oye.
“From the blues, on May 9 this year, Edozie Njoku started parading a judgment which he purported was reviewed by the Supreme Court. Investigation at the apex court showed that Edozie Njoku doctored the judgment to suit his egocentricity.
“Contrary to the stories he is bandying about, the Supreme Court never reviewed any judgment or recognised him as national chairman of APGA.
“Let me ask Edozie Njoku some questions: Were the legal teams of all the parties in the suit a part of the so-called review? Was he a party to the suit that was dismissed by the Supreme Court on October 14, 2021? Did INEC monitor his so-called Convention which he claimed he held at Owerri on May 31, 2019?
“What Edozie Njoku is doing is to resort to blackmail to whip up sentiments in order to arouse undue sympathy. But that is not working.
From the above it is undisputable that Edozie Njoku and his cohorts are back to their usual game of subterfuge, blackmail and deceit.
“Though the matter is being investigated by the police, I think the police should not hesitate to arrest Edozie Njoku and his collaborators and charge them to court, where they should answer vital questions and prove their innocence, if any.
“Inside of me, I am burning with anger because this man has been allowed to serially cause confusion, deceive and extort people.
“Edozie Njoku has been calling unsuspecting persons to come to him and procure forms to participate in a non-existent primary. These persons have been chasing him all over the place to recover their money. And he has gone into hiding. Should this type of ignoble thing be allowed to happen in any decent society?
“I must not fail to commend INEC for standing up in defence of our democracy. INEC has shown that it is an unbiased umpire and has played the role of regulator efficiently. I wonder if anybody would just wake up one day and begin to lay claim to the Managing Director of a bank when he or she has no business with the bank. It is the Central Bank that knows who the managing directors of the banks it regulates are. It is the same thing with INEC. It is only INEC that can tell who the recognized chairmen of registered political parties in Nigeria are.
“The National Judicial Council should step into the matter immediately and deal decisively with all those involved in this questionable and condemnable act in order to save our judiciary and democracy from opprobrium”