Victor Umeh
The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of playing double standard in the crisis rocking the party.
The party expressed surprise that while the INEC rejected some PDP NWC members on the grounds that they were not duly elected through a secret ballot system, it had continued to accord recognition to Victor Umeh, who emerged through voice acclamation.
APGA, led by its national chairman, Chief Maxi Okwu, made this observation, Thursday, while reacting to the Enugu Court of Appeal judgement that restored Umeh as the national chairman of the party. In a press briefing at the Enugu office of the party, Okwu, who was flanked by other national officers of the party called on the INEC to convince Nigerians that it was an unbiased umpire.
“We are all aware that thr ‘biggest’ party today in Nigeria is about to hold a special national convention. Why? INEC observed that many of its officers were elected by acclamation and not by secret ballot as prescribed by the PDP constitution.
“The officers affected by this observation by INEC have since resigned and are preparing for re-election. Conversely, in the APGA case, over two thirds of the affected NWC have all accepted to abide by the court judgement except one Victor Umeh, Sani Shinkafi and a few others.
“Meanwhile, the same INEC is here giving him a piece of paper to continue to parade himself. A different strokes for different folks”? The APGA chairman queried.
On the way forward for the party, Okwu said since there was another subsisting Court of Appeal judgement validating the convention that elected him, he would continue to pilot the affairs of the party un-hindered.
He added that the part had reviewed the recent Court of Appeal judgement and was ready to approach the Supreme Court over the confusion created by the said verdict.
He said: “we now have the privilege of a copy of the court judgement, which we have perused carefully. We have also met at the highest level of the party spanning the NWC, the forum of state chairmen ably led by Dr. Azika Jega, the Chairman of BoT, Dr. Tim Menakaya and other critical stakeholders.
“We finally went into conclave with the Deputy Leader of the party, His Excellency, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, ‘Okwute Igbo’. Consequently a number of far reaching decisions to meet the new challenges this curious judgement has posed for us have been taken.
“We note that the judgement of the Court of Appeal is essentially based on the threshold issue of locu standi. The court was of the view that Ichie Okuli Jude Ejike lacked this necessary capacity without which a suit cannot be brought.
“Secondaly, the Court was also of the view that party matters are essentially domestic issues and should not be litigated.
“We strongly disagree with this position and our team of able solicitors have been instructed by us in concert with the plaintiff/respondent to challenge this position at the Supreme Court”.
Continuing the APGA chairman said “it is clear that the court did not deem it necessary to go into the merits of the case in view of its rationes decidendi. In our own humble opinion, the issue as it relates to the facts of the case are still at large”.
He added that the main issue remained that “Chief Victor Umeh mounted the saddle of the chairmanship of APGA at about 16th day of December 2004 in a military coup type conspiracy in a hotel room in Abuja, with a sprinkling of the then NWC members”.
“As things stand today, we have in one hand the Court of Appeal affirming the validity of our convention of 8th April, 2013, and on the other hand the same Court of Appeal allowing an appeal by our erstwhile national chairman. Lawyers know what to do in the circumstances. On our part, we chose the former as against the later and would pursue its political implications while our able team of solicitors sort out the legal”, Okwu added.
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