The electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), recently sparked a new round of crisis within the ranks of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) when it announced its recognition for the Chief Edozie Njoku led national executive committee of the party. For APGA, the party has never wit- nessed any form of peace since it was founded by the late, Chief Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, a situation that has pre- vented it from playing its opposition role effectively. A prominent leader, Chief Njoku, who is a founding member of the party, had made several attempts at becoming the national chairman of the party. The last time was when he tried to contest against the eventual winner, Chief Victor Oyeh, but had to conduct a parallel convention in Owerri, the Imo state capital, but in the end, INEC upheld the emergence of Oyeh.
In response, Njoku described the parallel convention as a charade, contending that his own was the authentic one. When it all seemed like the matter had been put to rest, Njoku during the governorship primary election of the party dusted his files and organised a primary election in Awka, Anambra State capital, where he emerged as the candidate while also holding on to the position of the national chairman. Soon, Mr. Jude Okeke came into the power tussle, claiming that he is the national chairman and later elected Hon Chuma Umeorji as the governorship candidate of the party with a court pronouncement from the Jigawa State. Another judicial pronouncement emerged from the Court of Appeal sitting in Kano setting aside the Jigawa ruling and the matter ended up at the Supreme Court but in the end, INEC upheld the candidacy of Prof. Charles Soludo who later became the governor of Anambra state. Less than three years in office, Soludo is once again faced with another hurdle.
Deepening Crisis
Since the pronouncement of the electoral body, the political landscape of Anambra State has become charged with both factions reaching for each oth- er’s jugular. Meanwhile, some members of APGA who feel shortchanged in the power play mostly former political office holders appear to be closing ranks with Edozie Njoku while the rest are still pledging their loyalty to the current National Chairman, Mr. Sylvester Ezeokenwa, who emerged in the last convention which Njoku did not participate in. National Publicity Secretary of APGA loyal to Soludo, Mazi Ejimofor Opara, in his reaction stated that “The correct interpretation of the Supreme Court judgement has since been laid to rest by the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, Hon Justice James Omotosho, wherein he held that the Supreme Court never pronounced Edozie Njoku as National Chairman of APGA and that Chief Victor Ike Oye was at all material times, the duly elected National Chairman of APGA at that time.”
He went further to add that “The above pronouncement has since been affirmed by the Court of Appeal. One therefore wonders how INEC chose to ignore the earlier Court of Appeal judgement on APGA leadership which was upheld by the Supreme Court. This stand of the Commission as expressed in its Statement stands both law and facts on the head and the same are hereby rejected by our great party.” According to him, neither the National Chairman, Ezeokenwa, nor APGA, was a party to the suit which led to the judgement being purportedly enforced, adding that “Not even Edozie Njoku himself was a party to this suit under review. How then has the INEC constituted itself a Father Christmas by deciding ignorantly by fiat to choose who becomes APGA National Chairman?”
Impact on Anambra governorship poll
Apparently this current issue in the party has to do with the next year’s governorship election in Anambra State. This is because, before now there had been a war of words between some top contenders in the forthcoming election in the ruling APGA, and leading the pack is the senator representing Anambra North Senatorial District, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah. Allegations came to the fore that he may have a hand in the sponsorship of Chief Njoku to ensure that Governor Charles Soludo does not win the ticket of the party for the election. While Chief Njoku insisted that what matters is that INEC has published his name in its portal as the authentic Nation- al Chairman of the party, Senator Ubah who spoke through his media aide, Kame Chucks, described the allegation of sponsoring Chief Njoku against Soludo and APGA as baseless and a sign of defeat.
“The issue is that governor Soludo is very jittery over the rising political profile of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah in Anambra State because everybody is already aware that Senator Ifeanyi Ubah is going to be the next governor. So, whatever that happens in the camp of Soludo, he will call Ifeanyi Ubah’s name,” Chucks told Saturday Telegraph. He denied ever sponsoring the crisis in APGA and attributed the claim to the looming image of Senator Ubah in the political landscape of Anambra State especially ahead of the 2025 governorship election in the state. On his part, Chief Njoku denied the allegation of being sponsored by some moneybags especially National Assembly members from Anambra State, though he maintained that he has taken over the party for further official engagements. While speaking through his media aide, Mr. Ben Okoro, Chief Njoku said they were not interested in who is spon- soring who but what matters most to them is that they have taken over the leadership of APGA as directed by court and recognised by INEC. Also speaking, National Publicity Secretary of APGA, Mazi Ejimofor Opara, further maintained that: “This is what you get when you have a willing buyer and willing seller. It is of no consequence to us whatsoever whoever is sponsoring who.
“This is familiar terrain for us as a party and it is very sad that the same thing is happening over and over again. Edozie Njoku is carrying a kangaroo paper and looking for a settlement. You can’t place something on nothing and expect it to stand. “You see this thing INEC has done is akin to a university graduating a student with a court order. You cannot graduate without sitting for examinations and you are graduated in learning and in character. INEC cannot as at today produce a certified true copy report of the conduct of any convention held in Owerri and how can they be graduating a student that never attended the university?” he asked.
The political option before Soludo
It is indeed too early in the day to be- gin to make conjectures over what would be the decision of the Supreme Court as the Soludo faction of the party challenges the position of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC. However Anambra politics is known for the gathering storm that paints the picture of thunder and lightning but when the election proper comes it would ulti- mately end up as an anti-climax. A similar scenario played out be- tween Soludo and Hon Chuma Umeorji yet Soludo had his way. It had also played out when the then governor Chief Willie Obiano was con- testing for his second term in office and it all seemed like the ruling All Progres- sives Congress would practically take it from APGA but the same anti-climax repeated itself. It is however up to Gov Soludo to play the party politics and ensure that the opposition does not pull the carpet off his feet.