Court okays Okorie's expulsion from APGA
From Lemmy
Ughegbe,
AFTER a seeming
unending three-year legal battle over the expulsion of factional Chairman of
the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas
Okorie, an Abuja High Court
yesterday upheld the party's decision.
The court held that APGA's National Working Committee
acted in line with its constitution to expel Okorie
having been found guilty of engaging in anti-party activities.
But the court voided the expulsion of Chief Victor Umeh
from APGA by the Okorie-led faction.
The rulings were the highpoints of the judgment of Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf who, however, held that the criminal allegations of
embezzlement levelled by the party against Okorie had not been proven against him. But he faulted the
mode used by Okorie in disbursing party funds.
According to him: "I have considered the submissions of
counsel in the matter. I am convinced that there was a meeting of the
NWC of the party where the decision to expel the 2nd plaintiff (Okorie) was taken. The 4th defendant, Innocent Ekwu, did not impress me as a witness of truth. "I see
him as a liar; his conduct speaks volume about his integrity and the
credibility of his evidence as he tried in vain to convince the court that
there was no meeting of the NWC where the decision was taken to expel the
plaintiffs. It is ridiculous for him to try to claim that there was no such
meeting.
"From the evidence before the court and the depositions of the 2nd
plaintiff, it was clear that Okorie was working
against the interest of the party in its efforts to reclaim its stolen mandate
in
"The law is that where relevant and admissible evidence stands uncontroverted, the court has no option but to accept it.
The conduct of Okorie (2nd plaintiff) highlighted in
the case amounted to anti-party activities capable of damaging the image of the
party."
On the issue of the alleged embezzlement of party funds levelled
against Okorie, Justice Yusuf
said: "The defendants had tendered cheques
issued to cronies on matters that had nothing to do with party affairs. Okorie stated that the party is indebted to him as he said
that his company had granted the party a loan of N14 million. Embezzlement
being a criminal offence must be proved beyond reasonable doubt, which is not
the case in this matter.
"However, he single-handedly signed cheques
contrary to the provisions of the party's constitution. His conduct clearly
shows high handedness and that he was running the party alone. I, therefore,
hold that the plaintiffs were validly expelled from the party."
The court maintained that "having been validly expelled from the party and
not being members of the party, they have no right to subscribe the name of the
party in the suit. They however have a right to sue on their own." The
judged added: "On the expulsion of the defendants by the plaintiffs,
assuming they have the competence to expel the defendants, the treatment meted
out to them falls short of what is required by the rule of fair hearing, a
breach of fair hearing as is seen in this case renders the whole process
nugatory. The report of the disciplinary committee that recommended the
expulsion of the defendants is null and void. On the other hand, the expulsion
of the 2nd plaintiff (Okorie) and others stands. I
won't interfere with it as it was done in consonance with the party's
constitution" he declared.
Umeh described the judgment as a vindication of his
fight for justice.
He said: "We feel happy and vindicated for the fact that the court has
said that Okorie has been expelled from the party.
For three years, so much propaganda has been unleashed on the party. All the
steps we took to remove him from the party were upheld by the court.
"We are going to rebuild APGA as we have been given the legal powers, we have complete faith in the nation's judiciary.
Anybody who says that it is right for an officer of a party to engage in
anti-party activities working against the interest of the party should have Okorie as its member."
Okorie, in his reaction, said he has instructed his
lawyers to challenge the judgment.
Okorie, Hassan Bello and Maxi Okwu had through
their counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), in 2005 gone to
court to challenge their expulsion by the Umeh
leadership over allegations of anti-party activities and embezzlement of party
funds.