- Insist Its Non Issue
- We Saw It Coming
Chief Maxi Okwu, the factional National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA, loyal to the Anambra state Governor Mr. Peter Obi has waved off the Appeal Court verdict in on the on-going leadership tussle rocking the party as a non issue.
Okwu whose executive was elected in a convention that held all night on Sunday till the early hours of Monday, Awka and was beamed live to all Nigerians and the international audience through cable television network said the ruling has changed nothing. He admitted they saw it coming.
On his own, Umeh, apparently elated by the Appeal Court ruling, quickly drove down to the graveside of the late supreme leader of the party, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to invoke the spirit the departed Eze-Igbo Gburu gburu, pray and thank God for saving his seat through the legal process.
Praying aloud to the consternation of all around including journalists, Umeh poured out his heartfelt concern to the late leader’s grave all what he described as atrocities being meted out to Ndigbo in the contemporary Nigerian political setting.
He blamed Obi of acquiescing the ugly situation and was also behind what he saw as intensive plot to destroy APGA as the umbrella and protective political banner for all Ndigbo.
Reacting to the Awka Convention, Umeh said it was a nullity and an effort in futility by desperate people. He rhetorically asked whether it was not seen as very unusual for a national convention of a party like APGA to be held in the middle of the night, “when its not a secret cult”.
He stated that the Court of Appeal ruling yesterday has sealed the fate of the “ill-conceived, ill-fated and illegal Convention”.
The chairman who was accompanied by other top APGA chieftains assured that he was ready to explore all legal channels to protect the sanctity and legacy of a united Ndigbo left behind by Ojukwu.
He announced the admission of the son of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Emeka Jr as a new member of the party’s Board of Trustees in keeping with the memory of the departed hero.
Ojukwu Jr said he was partnering with Umeh and other progressives to actualize the hopes of Ndigbo as a force to reckon with in Nigeria.
Reacting on the court ruling, Okwu said he was not aware, “but if at all there was anything like that, it could not invalidate an action that started and concluded long before the ruling. The convention passed through the whole due processes of law and good conscience. And no one can stop what has already taken place”, Okwu emphasized.
Speaking in line with Okwu, the newly elected National Legal Adviser of APGA, Mr Alex Ejesieme, noted that Umeh’s suit was against one member of the party, not the entire party. More so, “that APGA has just had a successful Convention in compliance with the party’s Constitution and a High Court judgment, and there is nothing anyone can do about it”.
