SUPREME COURT PUTS TO REST THE PROTRACTED LEADERSHIP DISPUTE IN THE APGA, BY AFFIRMING THE EMERGENCE OF SLY EZEOKENWA 27-11-24
By Sadiq Aminu The Supreme Court has put to rest the protracted leadership dispute in the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, by affirming the emergence of Sly Ezeokenwa as the authentic National Chairman of the party.
In two unanimous judgments, a five-member panel of the apex court held that Edozie Njoku wrongly laid claim to APGA Chairmanship.
The apex court held that its earlier judgment 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.
Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgment, held that, in the 2021 judgment, only declaratory reliefs were granted, which were not executory.
Justice Adah further held that it was wrong for Njoku to have gone before the lower court to seek to enforce a judgment that had nothing to be enforced as no executory reliefs were granted.
Justice Adah, who urged judges of the lower courts to be cautious, held that the judges of the trial court and the Court of Appeal, who declared Njoku Chairman of APGA were wrong to have heard the suit by Njoku.
He proceeded to set aside the judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on June 28, 2024, affirming the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which had declared Njoku Chairman of APGA.
Reacting to the judgments, Ezeokenwa commended the Judiciary for effectively putting an end to the leadership dispute in the party and affirming him and the Chairman.
He noted that with its judgments, the court had proved that it is indeed, the hope of the common man.