Following Court of Appeal’s declaration of the Prophet Jones Erue Executive Committee of Delta State’s All Progressives Congress and the sacking of the Chief Cyril Ogodo-led committee, party elders have initiated fresh moves to reconcile alienated members, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu.
Until late last week, when the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin, Edo State, affirmed the candidacy of Senator Omo-Agege and 43 other candidates of the All Progressives Congress that emerged through the electoral college of the Jones Erue’s Executive of Delta State APC, the reconciliation initiatives of concerned party elders in the state have been hindered by uncertainty.
But with the appeal court’s ruling, The Nation gathered within the week that the concerned party leaders are meeting to reconcile warring parties. An aide to one of the leaders, who pleaded not to be named, said some crucial meetings have been held in Asaba, Warri and Abuja in the last few days and that another important meeting is being planned by some concerned groups and that barring any last minute changes, it would hold in one of the party leaders’ residence in Asaba this weekend. Part of the aims of the planned meeting is to deliberate on the terms that will help resolve the prolonged leadership crisis, “if possible before the inaugurations so as to have a strong, united and peaceful opposition political party in the state.”
It would be recalled that the appeal court’s ruling followed a petition filed by APC against an earlier judgment of Asaba Federal High Court, March 18, 2019, which declared Cyril Ogodo-led faction as the elected executives of APC in Delta. But the appeal court in a unanimous judgment, read by Justice Mohammed Shaibu, held that the lower court “lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit as it bordered on the intra-party matter.”
The appellate court also held that the respondents’ non-compliance with section 97 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act was “a fundamental breach of the law.”
It said, for example, that the respondents failed to comply with the statutory provision of service writ of summons, as the writ was not endorsed.
Another issue the appeal court frowned at is the respondents’ failure to file their suit within 14 days of the act complained of (pre-election). The appellate court held that this “extinguished their rights” and further that they lack “locus standi” to contest the primary they did not participate in. “In the instant case, the respondents were neither aspirants nor contestants,” the court held as it upheld the appeal and set aside the substantial order nullifying the candidacies of Senator Omo-Agege, Chief Great Ogboru, Rev. Francis Waive and 41 other APC candidates in the elections.
The judgment was the same in another appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the same subject matter, where the court in another unanimous judgment, delivered by Justice C.N Uwa, held that “election matters are time-bound and must be strictly adhered to, and that the lower court was wrong to have assumed jurisdiction in the suit. “The lower court was wrong; the judgment is a nullity and is hereby set aside,” the court held.
Dr. James Edewor, a political analyst, who described himself as an APC supporter in the state, told The Nation that frantic efforts are already being made within and outside the state to resolve the crisis. “With these rulings, I think what is left for APC is to ensure reconciliation and peace. We can’t achieve much if we fail to come together. It is a pity we allowed our differences to generally affect our party during the last general elections. Let us come together to build a united, virile opposition in the state that can take over from PDP in the near future. This should be the concern of the party leaders and their supporters,” he said.
Edewor also revealed that some concerned party supporters have been meeting at various locations and that in one of such meetings by some Urhobo stakeholders; associates, on Monday this week, resolved to approach Chief Sylvester Kowho, an Urhobo elder, to reach out to Olorogun O’tega Emerhor’s camp and help convince the camp of the need for genuine reconciliation at this point.
So long a struggle
It would be recalled that the leadership crisis in the Delta State chapter of APC was so deep before the last general elections that President Muhammadu Buhari not only expressed concern, but reportedly ordered the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to personally move in to resolve the matter before the elections. That was sometime in July, 2018.
Confirming the presidential intervention, one of the major actors in the leadership crisis, Chief Cyril Ogodo, who is in the camp of Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, pledged that the State Executive Committee which he headed then would give the minister and the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee its support in order to ensure stress-free resolution of the crisis. As it turned out, that resolution could not be concluded before the elections.
The factions led by Ogboru/Omo-Agege and Olorogun O’tega Emerhor/ Cyril Ogodo respectively, had conducted parallel congresses in the state. Since the matter could not be resolved by Kachukwu or Oshiomhole before the elections, it had since after the elections remained in the courts, thus leaving concerned stakeholders rather confused on how to resolve the matter.
The face-off of course dates back to the days before the 2015 General elections, when the former political associates,
Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, Great Ogboru and Omo-Agege fell out over political leadership in the state.
Explaining why it has long to resolve the crisis, Edewor said: “This reconciliation has been difficult because the main actors in the crisis were, as you know, former political associates. They separated in the build up to the 2015 general elections when Chief Great Ogboru and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege had to align with and contest the governorship and Senatorial elections respectively on the platform of the Labour Party, leaving Olorogun Otega Emerhor, the founding father of APC in the state, to fly the governorship flag of APC. So, with Ogboru and Senator Omo-Agege’s return to APC after the 2015 elections, the battle for who leads APC in the state has understandably remained rather tricky.”