The founder and pioneer National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chekwas Okorie has berated the Governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, over his recent actions against the leadership of the party under Chief Edozie Njoku.
Okorie, who is currently Chairman, Board of Trustees, BoT, of the party, noted that Njoku as National Chairman has repeatedly offered Soludo extended latitude to halt his alleged continued sponsorship of crisis in APGA.
Soludo, who is the only governor elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance has refused to recognise Njoku as the party’s national chairman.
Njoku, who was elected at the party’s national convention in Owerri, Imo State, has gone through various levels of court cases and was declared the authentic chairman of the party by the Supreme Court.
However, Soludo prefers the faction led by Sylvester Ezeokenwa.
Okorie, who addressed the press in Abuja on Wednesday, accused the governor of having perpetrated and sponsored plethora of anti-party activities against the party that produced him.
He said that highly placed and very senior clergymen, traditional rulers, association of town union presidents-general, several business and intellectual elite have at various times appealed to Soludo to cease his “destabilizing war against the survival of the Party that provided him with the singular opportunity to realize his long elusive life time desire to become the governor of Anambra State, after two previous failed attempts”.
The elder statesman said that in spite of all entreaties to Soludo he remained recalcitrant and carried on like a bull in the China shop.
Okorie said, “APGA is the first Igbo contribution to Nigeria’s political party system since 1923 (about 101 years ago).
“Gov. Soludo thinks that his unfettered access to the common patrimony of the good people of Anambra State grants him the assurance that the Court of Appeal can easily be compromised,” the party’s BoT Chair said.
“The audacity of sponsoring Chief Victor Oye to embark on this latest misadventure at the Court of Appeal is incredible.
“A contemnor who has blatantly refused to purge himself of contempt is unashamedly before the Court of Appeal to protect his being sentenced for contempt of valid orders of a court of competent jurisdiction.
“Nigerians are watching to see whether the appellate court will stand on the side of a contemnor or protect the sanctity of the Nigerian judiciary and rule of law.
“It has become abundantly clear to all discerning Nigerians that Gov Soludo is determined as he threatened, to sacrifice APGA rather than submit to Chief Edozie Njoku as the National Chairman of our great Party.
“The continued survival of APGA in spite of all its vicissitudes, is by the special grace of God. APGA is a product of three attempts for registration at INEC in 1996, 1998, and 2002.
“APGA is a spirit and therefore indestructible. APGA will outlive all of us, including Prof Chukwuma Soludo.
“Nobody born of a woman can prevent APGA from recovering its rightful place in Nigeria’s political space as the only political party in Nigeria anchored on genuine progressive ideology.
“Nobody born of a woman can be an undertaker to bury APGA as Prof. Soludo boasted in his tantrums and hallucinations.
“In conclusion, it is on behalf of the Board of Trustees of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, that I advise the National Working Committee (NWC) of APGA to activate without delay the Party’s disciplinary machinery to sanction all those who may be found guilty of anti-party activities and whose actions and utterances have brought the Party to public ridicule and shame.
“I strongly advise that the Party’s disciplinary measures must include but not limited to Prof Chukwuma Soludo.
“The sanctity of the supremacy of the political party in party democracies all over the world must be sustained and maintained.”
