OKEY CHRIS reports that the recent judgement by a High Court in Anambra, which barred a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), from conducting primary to elect a candidate for the November 18, Anambra gubernatorial election, puts the party in quandary for the coming poll
Th e lingering crisis in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) may have prevent the party from fi ling a candidate for the forthcoming Anambra November 18, gubernatorial poll ahead of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) dead line for commencement of political party primary campaign on August 18, and conduct of part primary billed to hold from 22nd July to 2nd September, 2017. High Court Th is was as a result of Justice Chukwudi C. Okaa of Nnewi High Court, who on Tuesday, July 18 barred the party loyal to Martins Agbaso as National Chairman from conducting APGA party primary following a motion fi led to that eff ect by Victor Oye and 21 other APGA faithful on the side of Governor Willie Obiano.
It would be recalled that Enugu State High Court presided over by Justice A.R. Ozoemena on May 22, 2017 granted an order of mandamus, compelling INEC and police to abide by the decision of APGA in recognizing Chief Martin Agabso as the acting National Chairman of the party instead of Oye. APGA had through its National Working Committee on November 2016, sacked Oye, and replaced him with late Ozo Nwabueze Okafor, former Vice Chairman of the party (Southeast), followed by counter court cases. Order of Mandamus Agbaso, in line with the order of mandamus, conveyed his letter of party primary slated to hold on August 17, 2017 to the electoral body, notifying the Commission of their planned primaries for November 18 Anambra governorship election, as well as the appeal court ruling affi rming the order of mandamus given by the Enugu high court to their favour.
However, Justice Okaa, while granting Oye’s application, restrained the INEC, Chief Okechukwu Nkoloagu, Comrade Jerry Obasi and Comrade Chuks Nwogu, as defendants, their agents, privies or otherwise, from taking any steps towards organizing, conducting or holding any congress or primary election in the name of APGA, for selection or nomination of gubernatorial candidate for Anambra 2017, poll pending the hearing and determination of the substantive motion on notice it adjourned to Monday, July 24th, 2017. Th e Justice also stated in paragraph 5 of the judgment that, “Oye & 21 others (plaintiff s/applicants) shall enter into undertaking to pay the cost of N500,000 if at the end, the court found that it should not have made this experte order,” noting also that the experte order lasts for only 7 days. Planned Party Primary Reacting to the judgment, Prince Ukaegbu Esq., the National Publicity Secretary of APGA in Agabso’s camp, insisted that they would go ahead with their August 17th planned party primary and other activities of APGA as the order lacked merit.
According to Ukaegbu, their reason was because Justice Chukwudi Okaa is the father of Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on pharmacy, Valentine Okaa, who is also the Caretaker Chairman of National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), ‘illegally’ constituted by the governor. “While the party is not perturbed by the silliness of the said Order and those behind it, APGA wishes to seize this opportunity to allay any misgivings that the general public, supporters and membership of the party may harbour. Firstly, no Order of court was bought by Victor Oye and his band of ‘confusionists’ and no Order was made against the All Progressives Grand Alliance by the Nnewi High Court barring her from conducting her primaries for the 18th November, 2017 governorship election. “Secondly, no court can stop APGA from holding primaries to elect her candidate for the November 18, 2017 governorship election in Anambra State.
APGA also wishes to draw the attention of our members and the general public to the provisions of section 87 (11) of the 2010 Electoral Act, as amended, which provides thus, ‘nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general elections under this Act pending the determination of any suit’.” But while celebrating the judgment on social media, the SSA to Governor Willie Obiano on Social Media, Rt. Ifeanyi Aniagoh, urged Agbaso’s camp not to slur the image of the Justice whose judgment is been celebrated by die hard APGA faithful worldwide. Aniagoh, while adding that they were strongly behind the leadership of Dr Victor Oye, posited that it did not stop APGA from conducting primaries but only restrained Martins Agbaso and his agents from conducting it, and they were hoping to triumph over the motion on notice coming on Monday, July 24, 2017.
