Abia APGA disowns Okorie, Njoku, pledges loyalty to Oye’s leadership

The Abia chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) says the founding National Chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, is no longer a member of the party.

The state Chairman of the party, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, said this on Friday in Umuahia, while speaking with newsmen on the authentic national leadership of the party.

Ehiemere said that Okorie “was expelled in 2003 for anti-party activities and embezzlement of party funds.

“And a few years after his expulsion, he floated the United Peoples Grand Alliance in 2012,” he said, adding that he later joined the APC.

The APGA chieftain spoke against the backdrop of the reported claim by Okorie to be the legitimate APGA Presidential Candidate, while one Chief Edozie Njoku also clained to be the party’s National Chairman.

But Ehiemere said that it was preposterous for Okorie to claim to be APGA’s presidential flag bearer having left the party a década ago to form another party.

He said: “For record purposes, Chekwas Okorie is not a member of APGA let alone being its presidential candidate.

“He has lost his political value and credibility as far as Nigerian politics is concerned.

“All his efforts now is to see how he can eke a living by joining Chief Edozie Njoku to parade themselves as the National Chairman and Presidential Candidate of APGA, respectively.

“They are both aware that their claims are false and fraudulent.”

Ehiemere described Okorie and Njoku as “political impostors, who want to reap where they have not sown”.

He said that Chief Ike Oye and Prof. Peter Umeadi remained the authentic National Chairman and Presidential Candidate of the party, respectively.

“APGA has only one presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, Prof. Peter Umeadi, who emerged from a special national convention of the party held in Abuja in June,” he said.

Ehiemere said that the name of Okorie, who hails from Alayi in Bende Local Government Area of Abia, “is not in the APGA’s ward register and the same for Njoku, who is from Imo”.

He, therefore, warned the public to beware of Okorie and Njoku, alleging that they were being used by the enemies of APGA to cause confusion and distract Oye.

He expressed the party’s unalloyed loyalty to Oye-led National Working Committee (NWC).

He said that Oye’s leadership style had raised APGA’s political profile, making it the first and only political party in the country to own a National Secretariat in Abuja.

“Therefore, Abia APGA passes a vote of confidence on the NWC of our great party, led by Chief Victor Oye.

“This is to appreciate the committee for its resilience, doggedness and astuteness in piloting the affairs of the party, which we hope would bring victory to us in 2023,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ehiemere and the party’s Legal Adviser, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwokoro, have described the alleged Supreme Court’s decision, declaring Njoku as the National Chairman of the party, as “non-existent”.

“No such Supreme Court decision exists anywhere. There is no such judgment by the apex court.

“It all emanated from their fraudulent intentions to cause confusion in the party,” Nwokoro said.

He challenged Njoku to institute a contempt suit against APGA, Oye and INEC, if he was sure of the existence of such Supreme Court’s decision.

“When the decision of a court is flouted or disobeyed, the option left to the litigant is to institute a case of contempt of court,” Nwokoro said.

It was reported that APGA recently faced leadership tussle, with Njoku claiming to have obtained a Supreme Court’s decision in his favour.