A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A!!!Court upholds Okwu, Okoye as APGA chairmen

THE stage is set, once again, for another protracted legal battle for the soul of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), as an Awka High Court in Anambra State, presided by Justice Hope O. Ozor, on Monday upheld the party’s national convention in Awka last month, which produced Mr. Maxi Okwu as national chairman and Egwuoyibo Okoye as state chairman.

In his judgment in the suit filed vide originating summons by one Michael Joe Onwudinjo against APGA, Okwu and Okoye, Justice Ozor upheld the wards and state congresses conducted across the state on April 6 and validated the election of Okwu as the party’s national chairman.
The plaintiff, Onwudinjo, was said to have contested for APGA national vice chairman and lost, but went to court challenging the validity of the April 8 national convention. He argued that he was shortchanged and made to suffer irreparable loss following the change of venue of the convention from Enugu to Awka without proper notice.
However, the defendants, including Okwu, sought a declaration that the congresses and convention at which they were elected as officers of APGA, were valid and subsisting. They claimed that the exercises were conducted in line with the enabling laws and were supervised by officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After reviewing both parties’ submissions, Justice Ozor dismissed the plaintiff’s case for lack of merit, but held that the APGA National Convention of April 8 and the wards and state congresses conducted in Awka were valid, having been conducted in accordance with the law.
Reacting to the judgment, Okwu said the outcome of the case signalled Umeh’s time to go.
However, counsel for Akunwata Mike Kwentoh and Williams Obiorah, who also contested for the state chairman and secretary positions, said they would appeal the judgment.