Maxi Okwu
Justice Abdulkadir Abdul-Kafarati of Nigeria's Federal High Court in Abuja has ruled in favour of Maxi Okwu in the tussle with Victor Umeh for the leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Okwu has been declared as APGA's authentic National Chairman.
Okwu was elected by the Congress of a faction of APGA on 8 April 2013 but this was challenged by the Umeh faction which filed a Notice of Appeal and Stay of Execution.
Last August, Okwu instituted a Suit at the Federal High Court against Umeh and all the officers of APGA - seeking an order directing the officials to vacate their offices; claiming they were not elected in accordance with Article 18 (4) of its constitution which prescribes that election into offices of the Party should be by secret ballot. He also urged the court to direct the National Secretary, Sani Shinkafi, to vacate office having exhausted his two terms of four years each. Mr. Shinkafi, he said, was elected first on January 10, 2003. Okwu asked the court to declare him the authentic National Chairman of the Party and also direct the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deal with him in that capacity.
The ruling has implications for the political picture in Anambra State including the recent Gubernatorial elections. Willie Obiano who was recently elected as Governor of the State belongs to Umeh's APGA faction. With the ruling in favour of the Okwu faction, it appears that Obiano may have lost out.
The Umeh faction is likely to appeal the judgement.