The crisis rocking the All Progressives Grand Alliance has taken a new dimension as the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission refuses to recognize the Chief Edozie Njoku-led faction of the party.
The administrative secretary of the court-recognized APGA, Mr. Benedict Okoro, condemned the action of ANSIEC and accused Governor Chukwuma Soludo of having a hand in their harassment.
Okoro said: “The Court of Appeal recognition of Chief Njoku as APGA national chairman should be respected and we urge Governor Soludo and his allies to join us in ending this crisis.”
He added: “Recall that exactly on August 7, 2024, our party wrote to ANSIEC (which later was acknowledged by the commission on August 9, 2024), notifying it that the Independent National Electoral Commission on July 9, 2024, in total obedience to the two Court of Appeal judgments, (CA/ABJ/724/2023 & CA/ABJ/CV/1169/2023), recognized Chief Edozie Njoku and other executive members elected at the Owerri Convention of May 31, 2019, as the authentic and rightful executives of APGA.”
Okoro also stated: “We are compelled by these illogical and unlawful developments to conclude that the recent attempts at amendment of a two-week old Anambra State Electoral Law, leaves more to be desired.”
He further said: “It has become obvious to even the blind that despite the olive branch and reconciliatory overtures by the Chief Edozie Njoku-led APGA NWC, Governor Chukwuma Soludo has continued to engage in morbid machinations to diminish APGA, just to stop the party under Chief Njoku from fielding candidate in the forthcoming LGA elections in Anambra State.”
Okoro urged Governor Soludo to recognize the fact that after several failed attempts to realize his governorship ambition through other political platforms, he finally emerged through the platform of APGA and therefore, he should give peace a chance and see the hand of God in the rebirth of APGA.
He said: “Your Excellency, APGA helped you to actualize your greatest political aspiration. Therefore, APGA calls you father; therefore do not have a hand in its death. We hope that as a man of letters, your Excellency will not dismiss this wise counsel and repeat Okonkwo’s fate in the Things Fall Apart.”
Okoro concluded: “We are encouraged by the certainty that history has been hostile to all men who have ever moved against the wishes of the people.”