By Ifeanyichukwu Afuba
It’s rare to see the Supreme Court award such heavy cost in a civil matter without monetary value claims as it did on Wednesday, November 27, 2024 when it held that Mr Edozie Njoku had no right to the national chairmanship of APGA. In a unanimous judgment affirming the legitimacy of Sly Ezeokenwa’s chairmanship of APGA, the apex court awarded a total of sixty million naira costs against Edozie Njoku and his fellow travellers in their night trip of sabotaging APGA. Reports of the judgment leave us in no doubt that the measure was a reflection of the judges’ disgust with perceived wilful misrepresentation of the law and judicial pronouncement. In fixing the costs, the eminent jurists would have considered the need to punish legal recalcitrance calculated to achieve miscarriage of justice.
Mr Edozie Njoku, a stranger to APGA members, had laid claim to the national chairmanship of the party since 2019. On 14 October 2021, the Supreme Court gave judgment validating the national convention that brought the Victor Oye leadership of the party to office, thus, discrediting Njoku’s claims. And you would think that was the end of the matter. But following the Supreme Court’s correction of a clerical error on 24th March 2023 on the earlier judgment of 14 October 2021, Njoku seized on the opportunity to portray the judgment in favour of his ambition. A restless Njoku continued to propagate this gimmick even after the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court rebutted the propaganda that the alterations conferred victory on Njoku.
The _Guardian of September 2, 2022 said: “A statement by the Supreme Court’s Director of Press & Information, Dr Akande Festus stated that Njoku, who sought to be joined in the appeal was not granted, and therefore, not a party to the final judgement that resolved the leadership crisis.” Stone – deaf to reason, the overnight national chairman pushed on. And by yet unclear details, he secured a high court pronouncement seeking enforcement of a make – believe Supreme Court declaration. It was this High Court and later, Court of Appeal errors, that the Supreme Court set aside on Wednesday, November 27, 2024.
APGA National Chairman, Sly Ezeokenwa
Mr Njoku did not leave the public wondering for long on the motives for his relentless assault on APGA. A day after the judgment that shattered his daydreams as APGA chairman, Njoku spoke with journalists in Abuja, employing words purporting he had accepted his indictment. In another breath of defiance, however, he said something interesting. “But one thing I promise you is that you can never muffle the voice of the people. The people of Anambra State, in the next election, will speak and it will be so resounding…. The grassroots will decide who their leaders are. And I promise you that Anambra will speak.” Some have tended to view Njoku’s exertions over the APGA chair as crude grab for power; though one laced with appetite to make money along the line. With the benefit of hindsight, the daring offensive to snatch the party’s captainship was meant to cripple the party from within. If there was lingering doubt about the end game of Njoku’s aggression, it was indicated above by Njoku himself as targeted at the 2025 Anambra State governorship election.
It would be recalled that Mr Edozie Njoku’s sudden emergence in 2019 was at a time of search for Willie Obiano’s successor. Professor Charles Soludo had begun to look more and more as the heir apparent. The concern among Ndi Anambra was to elect a transformative leader who will drive the process of societal development in every sense of the word. As Obiano himself put it, he was committed to the realisation of a Governor who would outperform his own record. Yet, Soludo’s nomination as APGA governorship candidate witnessed fierce resistance from a small mix of power speculators in APGA; small in terms of numerical strength and acceptance in the party but a super power by their financial means. It took over 50 suits to safeguard the national leadership of the party and to confirm Soludo’s candidature.
In three years, the achievements of Soludo’s administration are solid and unprecedented in Anambra State’s history. The question thrown up by Njoku’s threat of a showdown in next year’s governorship poll is how derailing Charles Soludo’s stellar – performing administration will be good news to Ndi Anambra? How would the divisive machinations of Njoku and company be in the interest of APGA? It turns out that the principal actors in this destabilisation plan all habour grudges arising from a false sense of entitlement. Aside Njoku, one sees himself as eternally holding the patent for invention of APGA. Another, a serial senatorial and governorship nomination loser is still seething over his loss of the 2021 governorship ticket.
Mercifully, the Supreme Court judgment has brought them to the end of the road. But the other side of the story is that in it’s twenty – two years of existence, APGA has not fared well. Against the background of it’s balancing and liberating mission in our troubled polity, the party still has a long way to travel. It’s stunted growth can be located in two main factors, namely, the nature of Nigeria’s electoral contest; then the issue of national presence, appeal and engagement. Nigeria’s electoral environment is one in which from the drafting of electoral laws, through conduct of polls in the field to prosecution of election petitions, the odds are stacked against opposition parties and their candidates. In these circumstances of ruling party – influenced contest, APGA had it’s governorship victories in Enugu State in 2003, Imo State in 2007 and Abia State in 2015 reversed. The party’s successful candidates in the popular votes were Ugochukwu Agballa, Martin Agbaso and Alex Otti respectively. The way forward in the quest for credible polls would be to seek joint action with other political parties for implementation of the far – reaching Mohammed Uwais Electoral Reform Panel Report. Undeniably, the issue of rigged elections affects all opposition parties and there are limits to what APGA can do to reverse the trend without concerted resistance by Nigerians.
But the matter of national presence, appeal and engagement is within APGA’s grasp. It’s an issue of critical importance, one with consequences for the future of the party. There are two parts to it. The first is the localisation of the party in the southeast in general and Anambra State in particular. In 2023 we had a situation where the national chairman of the party, chairman, board of trustees and presidential candidate of the party were all from Anambra State. This is unhealthy, to put it mildly. There is urgent need to give other parts of the country a sense of belonging in the party. One had thought that at the end of Victor Oye’s tenure in 2023, the chairmanship would be ceded to a zone outside the southeast. Given also that the party’s only Governor is from Anambra State, the agenda of opening up the party to other Nigerians is one that should be pursued immediately and decisively. Besides effecting inclusive leadership of the party, an agenda of national mobilisation requires rotating important events such as national convention in different parts of the country. Other reach – out programmes can be developed to make the party accessible and inviting.
It’s my considered view that APGA’s abandonment of Nigeria’s presidential election since 2011 is the greatest undoing of the party. It is by far the single factor that has shrunk the party to atomistic size. A country’s presidential election is the biggest political event any day and ipso facto, offers participating political parties prized marketing opportunity for membership recruitment and followership. Consequently, by not fielding candidates in 2011, 2015 polls; and by presenting tokenist, nominal candidates in 2019 and 2023 polls, APGA rendered herself inconsequential in national political calculations. The voice and identity that flow from keen contest of presidential election can neither be measured nor over emphasised. Skipping one presidential contest is hurting enough but absence from four consecutive presidential polls is a disaster for a presumed national political party. Why would anyone want to join a political party that does not stand to be counted; that does not offer an alternative leadership road to our tragic experience?
Perhaps, the loss arising from adoption of the ruling party’s presidential candidate would be tolerable if there was meaningful compensation attached to it. The definition of meaningful compensation here is a quid pro quo arrangement. If APGA must withdraw from the race in support of a Jonathan, Buhari or Tinubu, there should also be some concession from the other side. What is wrong in demanding that the ruling party’s senatorial candidates in a chosen State, for instance, should step down for APGA candidates, in return? There is nothing to show that such strong negotiations were attempted by APGA leaders. Seeing APGA offer herself so cheaply, the benefitting ruling party, notoriously the PDP, spared no thought about making mincemeat of APGA. The party not only contested every electable position with full force against APGA, it went the extra mile of using it’s control of the police and INEC to rig out APGA candidates in the southeast. Considering the bandwagon effect that presidential alignment usually triggers, there is hardly any gain for a party like APGA.
Now, APGA has another chance to remedy past wrongs, rebuild and heal. The party has lost much ground from intervening conflicts, misplaced priorities and missed opportunities. Sly Ezeokenwa’s chairmanship has shown signs of leadership promise that should now be translated into results. Expectations are high but so also the zeal of genuine party members for a turnaround. It’s less than three years to the next political engagement of consequence. If nothing else, Ezeokenwa’s leadership should provide AGPA with a first class 2027 presidential candidate who will rally party members and supporters into a cohesive force of stakeholders in the Nigerian project.
