Supreme Court Affirms Sly Ezeokenwa as APGA National Chairman

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court affirmed Mr. Sly Ezeokenwa as the legitimate National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), ruling against Chief Edozie Njoku’s claim to the position. A five-member panel of the apex court delivered two unanimous judgments, invalidating Njoku’s attempt to assume the APGA leadership. The court ruled that its earlier decision in the case SC/CV/687/2021, delivered on October 14, 2021, and later corrected on March 24, 2023, did not grant Njoku any enforceable rights to the chairmanship. Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgment, emphasized that the Supreme Court’s previous ruling was declaratory in nature, not executory. The court further noted that leadership disputes within a political party are internal matters and not subject to judicial enforcement. Justice Adah criticized Njoku for seeking to enforce a judgment that did not provide any actionable relief and faulted the lower courts for mistakenly declaring Njoku the APGA National Chairman. As a result, the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s June 28, 2024 decision, which had upheld the lower court’s ruling in favor of Njoku. In addition, the Supreme Court imposed a N20 million fine on two members of the Njoku-led faction of APGA for their involvement in the matter. In response to the judgment, Ezeokenwa expressed gratitude to the judiciary, stating that the ruling had put an end to the party’s leadership crisis. He praised the court for affirming him as the legitimate APGA Chairman and emphasized the role of the judiciary as the “last hope of the common man.” Ezeokenwa added that the ruling had dispelled any doubts about the party’s leadership and reaffirmed the convention that led to his election.