The reported lawsuit against Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and the Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC) by the All Progressives Congress, APC over his plan to set up caretaker committees for the 17 Local Government Councils has taken a new twist.
This is as the State Chairman of the party, Barr. Ben Nwoye on Monday said he did not authorize the litigation.
In a letter signed by the APC State Legal Adviser, B.N. Nebe, which was addressed to the member of the party, who filed the suit on behalf of the party, Hon. Hyacinth Nsude, the party said that its State Executive Committee did not give the plaintiff “the authority to sue any person, body or group on behalf of the party.”
The party’s State Legal Adviser frowned at the affidavit the plaintiff deposed in suit no. E/362/ 2015: APC and 17 Ors. Vs. ENSIEC and 24 Ors, where he among other averments, stated that he had the consent and mandate of the party to do so.
The APC State Legal Adviser, therefore, informed the plaintiff that, “I am directed by the Chairman of the party in Enugu State to ask you (Nsude) to withdraw without delay, the suit which you purportedly instituted on behalf of the party without authorization from anybody to that effect.”
The party also told the plaintiff to, “take notice that your action constitutes perjury and conduct likely to embarrass or have adverse effect on the party contrary to Article 21 of the All Progressives Congress Party’s Constitution”
Also speaking to reporters, Nwoye insisted that there was no time the state working committee of the party met and decided to challenge the action of the governor in court.
Nwoye expressed dismay that some destabilising agents in the party took a decision without informing him as the chairman of the party and other members of the state working committee of the party.
He stated that though the setting up of Caretaker Committee in Local Government Areas was unconstitutional, he was happy that one of the reasons the governor gave for not conducting the election was that he had embarked on the process of restructuring the local government system in the state.
Nwoye added that he would be happy if the governor would restructure the local government system in the state to enable the votes of people to count, saying he would only support a credible election at the local government level.
He noted that in the past, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) never conducted any credible elections at the local government level, stressing that all the candidates of the APC that attempted to challenge the candidates of the PDP in the past were disqualified.
Nwoye used the opportunity to announce that Honourable Hyacinth Chibueze Ngwu has emerged the South-East Zonal Publicity Secretary, stating that he was a replacement for Mr. Osita Okechukwu.
The APC chairman in the state regretted that some destabilising agents in the party had continued to work hard to destroy the APC in the state.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Mr. Osita Okechukwu told DAILY POST that “I am not the Zonal Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congrees, South East; but the Spokesman of the Leadership Caucus, a post in which I was nominated by His Excellency, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and endorsed by the Caucus in 2013 at Owerri, before people like Ben Nwoye joined the APC.”
He added that “On the issue of His Excellency, Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the governor of Enugu State restructuring the local government system, I am at a loss the section of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and extant laws which Dr Ben Nwoye, who claimed to be a lawyer, is referring to.
“My understanding is that Hon Hyacinth Nsude and others who want to run for the council wanted to secure the injunction before the governor constitute the Caretaker Committees. Methinks they were trying to save the governor from breaching the Constitution, which he swore to uphold and defend.
“One had thought that our chairman in the best tradition of our great could have called Hon Nsude for an in house discussion; instead of acting as if the governor had briefed him.”
It would be recalled that the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mrs. Kate Ofor had on Sunday issued a statement, disclosing that the Party had instituted a legal action against ENSIEC and others over the plan by the state government to set up caretaker committees to administer the councils.
However, the Enugu State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Okey Eze in a reaction stated that the planned committees were constitutional, adding that, “the state chapter of the APC has no moral ground to speak on the matter in the sense that most states controlled by the APC administer council affairs through caretaker committees.”
Eze revealed that contrary to the erroneous impression given by the APC State Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Ofor over the litigation, the plaintiff’s payer for an Ex-parte Order of Injunction was refused by the court presided over by Hon. Justice R. O Odugu of High Court 6, Enugu.
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