The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance,APGA, Chief Edozie Njoku has ordered the freezing of the bank account of the Imo State chapter of the party.
Sources said the action is to compel Chief John Iwuala, sacked chairman of the party in the state and his executive to vacate office and the state secretariat of the party.
Chief Iwuala confirmed the development in a telephone interview on Thursday.
Chief Iwuala also admitted to the news of the sacking of his executive but insisted that Chief Njoku has no locus standi to take such action as it will amount to contempt of court.
According to him, he has in his kitty a subsisting court order validating his executive and stopping the national executive from dissolving the Imo executive
He insisted that until the order which predated Chief Njoku’s ascension to the National Chairmanship position is vacated by a court, he remains the authentic chairman of the party in Imo State.
Chief Iwuala also said the freezing of the bank account of the party does not in any way impede the operations of his executive or the party in the state.
According to him, the party is run mainly from his private pocket since there is no other person contributing money for the operation of APGA in the state.
He added that he is still in a position to fund APGA from his personal resources for the next two years.
On the letter written to the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission by the national executive to recognize and deal only with Imo executive installed by Chief Edozie Njoku, Iwuala submitted that the national executive simply wanted to stampede the ISIEC into commiting contempt of court.
He boasted that he would legally deal with those whose names appear in the new executive if the list had been submitted to the ISIEC.
Chief Iwuala alleged that one of the people said to be a member of the new executive is a kingpin of an underworld gang.
According to him, he would get members of the new executive, once the list is out, arrested to produce the gangster.
“What happened was that the man was arrested and detained but later freed on bail on health ground. He sold his property and relocated to Canada.
“The security agents believe he ran away but once the list is made and his name appears on it, I will arrest others to produce him’, Chief Iwuala said.
But the Acting Secretary of the new executive of the party, Chief Vincent Amadi countered Chief Iwuala on the issue of personal funding of the party..
He queried where the proceeds of the forms purchased by aspirants for the forthcoming council polls in the state were kept.
Chief Amadi demanded that Chief Iwuala tells the world the business he does that fetches him enough money to run a large party as APGA.
The Acting Secretary also maintained that the court order which Chief Iwuala is referring to is statue-barred and moribund.
