Okonkwo Samuel
On Wednesday, February 23, Justice Ike Ogu of Awka High Court 1 delivered a judgment in a suit filed by some persons parading themselves as 2018 LGA Chairmen and Ward Chairmen of the APC in Anambra seeking to be reinstated after being dissolved by the National Executive Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2020.
Their suit followed the conduct of the delayed Ward, Local Government and State congresses in Anambra State which successfully returned Hon. Chief Basil Ejidike as the substantive State Chairman and others who were validly elected into the various positions ranging from Ward, Local Government and State level respectively. The plaintiffs mischievously sought the cancellation of the congresses and their reinstatement.
Ordinarily, one wouldn’t have joined issues with the plaintiffs since efforts have already commenced to appeal the judgement and obtain a stay of execution pending the determination of the suit at the Appellate Court, but in the light of certain circumstances surrounding this entire case, it is necessary to reveal some worrying facts.
To start with, the Judge who presided over the case, Justice Ike Ogu of the Anambra State High Court 1, Awka Judicial Division has been churning out questionable rulings and judgement for a while now. The most recent was his ruling on January 26, 2022 ordering the Anambra State government and the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State to remove all police checkpoints in the state saying that the Police has no legal justification whatsoever to create checkpoints in the state to fight insecurity! A judgement he made without considering the security situation today in Anambra State. This is unbelievable but that was a judgement coming from this same High Court Judge.
Secondly, Justice Ike Ogu was appointed a Judge by the Former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige who is the hand of Esau behind the Plaintiffs and he made sure that the State Chief Justice ( also his appointee and blood relation from Oraukwu) assigned the case to Justice Ike Ogu for adjudication in the bid to actualize his inordinacy. Justice Ike Ogu’s judgement yesterday was simply to compliment Ngige for his appointment as a Judge during his administrative era as Governor with a stolen mandate of Gov. Peter Obi.
Again, the news flying the waves is that Soludo/APGA mobilized Chief Patrick Ikwueto SAN against APC to justify the dissidents/Plaintiffs support to APGA in the last Gubernatorial Election . This is part of the unrelenting efforts of APGA to use unpatriotic elements in the APC to destabilize the party having worked surreptitiously with these elements to sabotage the APC in the last governorship election in Anambra State and to foil the progress of the Election Petition Tribunal.
These same bad eggs, political murderers and opportunists are also the brain behind yesterday Appeal Court judgement against the candidature of Sen. Andy Uba, MFR and have vowed that they will make sure that the Tribunal suit of APC challenging the acclaimed APGA victory at the November 6th Anambra gubernatorial election embedded with so many electoral irregularities sees no light of the day, hence challenging the June 26th APC primary election simply because they are working for the opposition party having seen that APC/Sen. Andy Uba has a good case at the Election Petition Tribunal. The news also has it that the lead Judge of the Appellate Court in yesterday’s judgement Justice Danladi Zenchi has been Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s agent of judicial inordinacy.
Fact one needs to know about Justice Danlami Zenchi. He was a Judge of the FCT High Court who issued a warrant of arrest against a former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Muhammed Adoke (SAN) whom Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi considered as one of his core enemies understand Goodluck Ebele Jonathan era. Justice Danladi Zenchi was also the judge of the High Court of the FCT, who issued an order suspending Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and restrained him from parading himself as the National Chairman of the party in suit filed by Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s sadistic camp. It is noteworthy that Justice Danladi Zenchi was immediately elevated to the Appeal Court in compensation for being used for travesty of Justice and other judicial hatchet excesses for Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and co-travellers, but a story for another day.
Furthermore, all these coordinated gang up against the APC notwithstanding, it is very necessary to note that this judgement by Justice Ike Ogu is a judicial quicksand that will soon collapse and cave in because it lacks a strong foundation. To start with, by reinstating the so-called 2018 Executives in Anambra State and mandating them to stay in office till August 2022 when their initial four-year mandate ought to elapse, it means Justice Ike Ogu was in effect returning all APC officials across the country including the Adams Oshiomole-led NWC back to office till August 2022 despite having been dissolved by the National Executive Committee of the party in June 2020.
It has however been given a judicial stamp before now that the APC NEC has the powers to dissolve both the NWC and other party organs at the Zonal, State, Local Government, Ward and Polling Unit levels. As a matter of fact, Section 13.3 (II) of the APC Constitution empowers the NEC to *_”Discharge ALL functions of the National Convention as constituted in-between National Conventions”_*. Further in paragraph III, it was enshrined that decisions of the NEC shall be binding on ALL organs and ALL members of the Party except the National Convention.
Therefore, the APC NEC was acting within the powers vested on her by the APC constitution when it dissolved the NWC in June 2020 and went ahead to dissolve all party organs at the Ward, LGA, State and Zonal level across the federation in December 2020 and returned them on caretaker premise pending the conduct of general congresses to elect new officials.
Thus, it is a whack of judicial mischief for a Judge to strip the APC National Executive Committee of the powers validly donated to it in the APC Constitution. The NEC decision is valid and all the so-called elected officials of the APC in 2018 across the country including the Plaintiffs have been swept away by events and are now history. Justice Ike Ogu cannot resurrect what has been legally buried and which an Appellate Court sitting in Kano had struck out and adjudged to be a party internal affair.
The progressive members of APC in Anambra and indeed across the country are therefore enjoined to remain calm as this travesty of justice would be redressed at the Appellate Court . Efforts are already ongoing in this regards.
Written By Ikemba Iyke Oliobi Esq.
