*Accuses INEC chairman of frustrating party
The All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Wednesday, said it was fully prepared to take over the governorship seats in Edo and Ondo states.
While the Edo State governorship election is billed for September 21, that of Ondo State is slated for November 16.
The National Chairman of APGA, Chief Edozie Njoku, who spoke to newsmen at the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, said the party has concluded plans for its primary elections in the two states.
He said the process for the primary polls, which would commence next week and last for about one month, would ensure the emergence of formidable candidates that would guarantee victory for the party at the polls.
However, Chief Njoku accused the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, of deliberately frustrating the party by his failure to comply with the Supreme Court judgement that recognised him as the authentic APGA national chairman.
He lamented that the INEC chairman has refused to recognise him despite subsisting judgements of an Abuja High Court and the apex court, which declared him as the authentic national chairman of APGA.
Chief Njoku lamented that instead of obeying the verdicts, the INEC boss rushed to the Appeal Court to stay the execution of judgment in a committal proceeding that is pending against him before an Abuja High Court sitting at Bwari, following his refusal to comply with the court orders.
“I am calling on President Bola Tinubu and the Attorney-General of the Federation to look into this issue, especially where an agency of the government is deliberately disobeying and flouting the direct order of courts.
“By virtue of the November 9, 2023 committal judgment on Prof. Yakubu Mahmood by the FCT High Court of Bwari, for not recognizing the executives of our party that emerged from the Owerri Convention of May 31, 2019, we remain the legitimate executives of the party.
“We want to urge the people of Edo and Ondo states, that APGA is a party that has a lot to offer them, irrespective of any setbacks that we may have been through as a party.
“In Nigeria of today, APGA remains an instrument that represents the yearnings and aspirations of every Nigerian at the moment. It is the only party that has the ideology and momentum to unlock our potentials as a people.
“I want to assure all the governorship aspirants from Edo and Ondo states that have been calling to express their willingness to contest on our party platform that they should be rest assured that a free, fair and transparent primaries which have remained elusive to others will be made the cardinal virtue and practice in APGA.
“The resilience and tenacity we have shown in standing by the truth, amidst storm and tempest, to reclaim APGA from the hands of selfish individuals, even in the face of being accused of having forged a Supreme Court Judgment, which has been discharged and acquitted by the Court on December 5, 2023; will be brought to bear in the selection process of potential governorship candidates.
“I want to emphasize that a delegation of the NWC will visit Edo and Ondo states to encourage our party members to make out time to go and collect their PVCs at the INEC offices, in fulfilment of their electoral franchise as responsible citizens.
“We must continue to arm the patriotic spirit of APGA members and Nigerians, for a better Nigeria is our focus,” Chief Njoku added.