APGA crisis: All not well with Nigeria, Okorie laments

Barely nine days to the general elections, the founding National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Chekwas Okorie, has raised the alarm that all is not well with Nigeria.

Okorie described as abominable, in Nigeria’s jurisprudence, a situation where the presiding Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Registrar and a staff of the court will be dragged to a trial court on ‘criminal’ charge for doing their job.

He, therefore, called on institutions in the country, including the judiciary, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to rise to their responsibilities.

Speaking on the attempt to try a rival APGA national chairman, Chief Edozie Njoku, for alleged forgery of Supreme Court judgment after the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, had confirmed corrections on the judgment as authentic, Okorie accused the police of undermining the judiciary.

He alleged that “the quest to control the soul of APGA at all costs has led Victor Oye and his sponsors to pressure the police to drag the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is the apex court of the land, to contempt and disgrace.”

Recall that the Supreme Court, in its judgment on October 14, 2021, in Appeal No. SC/CV/687/2021, erroneously referred to Oye as the National Chairman of APGA.

But, in a statement made available to The Guardian, yesterday, Okorie said: “This unfortunate error was brought to the attention of the panel that delivered a unanimous judgment on the matter. On May 6, 2022, Njoku drew the attention of the panel to the error. On May 9, 2022, this error was duly corrected, especially on page 13 of the judgment, where the name of Njoku, the authentic National Chairman of APGA was duly reflected.

“Surprisingly, Oye, whose name was appropriately substituted with that of Njoku, wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police, alleging that Njoku forged the judgment of the Supreme Court.

While expressing dismay that an innocent party is being made to bear the brunt of human error, Okorie said: “It is shocking that the police, in its investigation, deliberately refused to follow proper procedure of verifying authenticity of the judgment from Justice Mary Peter-Odili (rtd), who wrote and delivered the lead judgment and later made the correction, or from the remaining four justices who delivered their concurrent judgments as well.

“The police did not also interrogate the Senior Executive Bailiff of the Supreme Court, Paul Ajiake, who served the lead judgment, four concurrent judgments and an enrolled order of the court on all parties in the suit, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and swore to an affidavit of service to validate his action.

“Instead, the police relied on a surreptitious letter written to it by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Hajo Bello, to charge Njoku and the National Youth Leader of APGA, Chukwuemeka Nwoga, for forgery.

“This irregular action of the police landed Njoku and Nwoga in an unwarranted and unfair incarceration at Suleja Correctional Centre.”