The leadership of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), under the chairmanship of Edozie Njoku, has petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) over a judgment delivered by Justice James Kolawole Omotosho on the leadership feud rocking the party.

The Chairman of the party?s Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Chekwas Okorie, announced this while addressing reporters yesterday in Enugu.

Okorie recalled that Justice Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered a judgment on APGA leadership tussle on November 20 when a similar case was still pending at the Supreme Court.

The party chieftain explained that the judge, in his verdict, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw its recognition of Edozie Njoku as APGA National Chairman and replace him with Sly Ezeonwuka.

Okorie recalled that a five-man panel of Justices of the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous judgment upholding Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of the party.

The BoT chairman noted that despite the judgment, INEC, which was a party in the suit, refused to obey the judgment.

He said the commission was being forced to recognise Njoku as the party?s chairman after a court order.

Okorie said Justice M. A. Madugu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court had found INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood, and a former factional national chairman of the party, Victor Oye, guilty in a contempt of court charge but delayed the sentencing out of leniency to allow ?the contemnors the altitude to purge themselves of contempt?.

He averred that while the Supreme Court had not delivered its judgment on the suit Victor Oye and Mr. Sly Ezeonwuka filed on the matter, Justice Omotosho delivered a judgment on November 20 on the same matter.

?APGA has taken the civilised step of submitting the party?s petition to the NJC while patiently awaiting the judgment of the Supreme Court,? Okorie said.

He expressed optimism that the NJC, which is responsible for ensuring that judicial officers adhere to the ethics of their jobs, would look into the petition. (The Nation)

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