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BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU
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Former Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Leader of the Progressives, Enugu State, Dr. Ben Nwoye has called on the new national chairman of the party, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda and his National Working Committee (NWC) to compel Chief Ugochukwu Agballah to obey the court order removing him from office as state chairman of the party.
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Recall that an Enugu High Court presided over by Justice C.V.C Ezeugwu had on August 7, 2024 given an injunction that Ugochukwu Agballa and his Exco members should stop parading themselves as the leaders of the party.
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Addressing journalists on the development on Thursday in Enugu, Nwoye appealed to the Yilwatda-led NWC to obey the court order by restraining Agballa who had been removed since 2024.
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The former APC chieftain, noted that should Agballa be allowed to continue administering the affairs of the party, it will adversely affect the party, come 2027 general elections.
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“They need to put a stop to it especially now that we are moving towards 2027 and primaries are coming up. It will have an irreversible effect on the party in Enugu State and infact the party nationally if they allow such a person to participate in casting a vote as they did in the vote that elected the new National Chairman,” he pointed.
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Nwoye pleaded with the Yilwatda-led NWC not to toe the path of the Abdullahi Ganduje led NWC that allowed impunity to prevail in Enugu State by recognizing and working with someone that had been removed long ago as party chairman.
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He reasoned that no court has voided the court order that removed Ugo Agballa whose removal was done according to the Constitution of the party and wondered why Ganduje neglected to abide by the court order that removed Agballa as Enugu State APC chairman noting that an Acting Chairman, Dr. Alphonsus Okafor was elected in his stead.
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“As you are already aware, there is a court order. First of all, Ugo Agballa ‘s people removed him as a chairman and that removal followed APC constitutional process. With that removal in accordance with APC Constitution and Acting Chairman was elected in the person of Dr. Alphonsus Okafor.
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“That matter was fully litigated in a court of first instance and the court entered an order barring Ugo Agballa from carrying himself or portraying himself as chairman. The court order was communicated to the National Secretariat, and at that point the National Working Committee, NWC led by Ganduje. Unfortunately the NWC led by Ganduje did not respect the court order,” he points out.
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The former party chairman however expressed confidence that with the enthronement of a new national chairman, the wrong could be righted this time around and have Agballa booted out.
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“So now we have gotten a new national chairman, a man of high reputation, a man of integrity in the person of Prof. Yilwatda. We have taken the petition to him, we have taken the court order to him and by the grace of God, he has agreed that he is going to look into it. Not just look into it but abide by by the rule of law.
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“The NWC led by Hon. Yilwatda will look into it and stop acting outside the confines of the law. The guarantee they have given us is that they will respect the law. All we are asking for is that they respect the law,” he declared.
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Nwoye however regretted that the Chairman South, the Deputy national chairman, South as well as the Vice Chairman South East are attending meetings presided by Agballa, even the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, Uche Nnaji is backing the illegality being committed by Ugo Agballa to the detriment of the party in the state.
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He noted that by neglecting the court order, they are thus “demarketing our party by faulting a court order with impunity and parading as if it means nothing.”
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“If the national leadership of APC refuses to obey a court order, refuses to abide by the law, who then do they expect to abide by the law?” he queried. Nwoye urged Yilwatda to do the needful.
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He accused the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma for fanning the embers of disunity in Enugu State APC, insisting that “Enugu APC is not an appendage to Imo State”.
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