A former Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State, Nze Kingsley Osigwe has warned the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission (ISIEC) against continued dealings with the illegal state executive of the party led by one John Iwuala.
Osigwe insisted that the forthcoming council elections scheduled for September 21, this year risk annulment should the ISIEC not discontinue dealings with the sacked Iwuala-led state executive of the party.
According to him, the Iwuala-led executive was affected by two judgements of the Supreme Court ousting Chief Victor Oye as National Chairman of the party.
Osigwe said the judgements declared all Oye's actions including appointments he made, congresses and the convention that threw up one Sylvester Ezeokenwa as National Chairman, as a nullity.
He described the continued dealings with Iwuala by the Commission as contemptuous of the order of court and a calculated attempt at deliberately sowing confusion in APGA that will weaken it before the election in order to give electoral advantage to their preferred party.
Osigwe noted that the Supreme Court has declared Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of APGA, thus prompting the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to recognise and upload him in its portal for the recor.ds.
INEC, according to him, has taken further step to validate Chief Njoku by swearing to an affidavit in court to that effect.
He said, "If INEC which has a full complement of eminent legal team had interpreted the Supreme Court judgment and complied with it, why will ISIEC, which is a similar but lower body waste a day in according same recognition to the appointments made by Chief Edozie Njoku.
"It will amount to contempt of the court if ISIEC goes contrary to the clear and unambiguous pronouncement of the Supreme Court pertaining to APGA.
"This will affect the entire outcome of the election and will question the competence of the personnel of the commission in conducting elections".
He said any attempt to deal with John Iwuala will amount to unlawful exclusion of APGA in the election and will render the exercise a nullity."
The APGA chieftain referred the State Electoral Commission to plethora of judgements of courts which bestowed political parties exclusive right to deal with their internal issues as in the present case in Imo state where APGA has appointed its officers and duly forwarded their list to the commission.
Hear him; "The commission has no right to vary the choice made by a political party because it is not its business to do so. What is its business is to accept, hook line and sinker the list of persons handed to it by the political parties as their representatives".
Recall that the contest of the position of APGA National Chairman which Chief Edozie Njoku eventually won began in 2019 when a High Court in Kwale, Delta state nullified the convention held in Awka Anambra state but Victor Oye refused to obey it and went ahead to announce himself as re-elected for a second term.
Whereas the proper and valid convention held in Owerri on same 31st day of May 2019 from where Chief Edozie Njoku emerged as the duly elected convention chairman of the party.
In delivering judgments, the courts held that all appointments made by Oye from the time he illegally assumed the position of National Chairman are null and void and of no effect.
The courts have equally ruled that Oye and his men should vacate the party secretariat, an order that has not been complied with.
Nze Osigwe enjoined the Commission to disregard a document being paraded by John Iwuala to the effect that he has a court order to remain in office.
He described the claim as lame and lacking in probative value, clarifying that the document was an action taken against the officers appointed by Oye in 2019 and included Chief Henry Okafor and Pastor Alphonsus Eberendu etal which didn't include John Iwuala.
He further revealed that he and other 12 members of the party were the plaintiffs and had long written to the court for withdrawal of the action.
He added that the said case has become moribund as it has never received any mention since 2019 after an order of status quo ante was made.
According to him, the process has become dead on account of being affected by the 'statute of limitation' and thus cannot be valid again unless it is refiled.
Nze Osigwe, therefore, called on ISIEC to avoid being misled . "What is in issue is the leadership of APGA and the Supreme Court has properly and meticulously decided it and made consequential orders which include the removal of Oye from the process as he was not in the Owerri convention where the valid exercise took place".
Recall also that the said Supreme Court judgment has been reported in the July 8 edition of the Nigerian Weekly Law report at page 145, as Njoku vs Jude Okeke.
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