Posted by By JAMES OJO, Abuja on
National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, yesterday announced the withdrawal of all court cases on the protracted leadership crisis of the party, as well as an unconditional pardon for Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and Chief Victor Umeh.
National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, yesterday announced the withdrawal of all court cases on the protracted leadership crisis of the party, as well as an unconditional pardon for Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and Chief Victor Umeh.
Okorie, at a press briefing said that the victory of February 29 at the Supreme Court and the roles played by the Catholic Bishops of the South East zone, Igbo Delegates Assembly from the northern states, World Igbo Congress and other concern groups made the pardon inevitable.
'With this victory, the leadership of the party resolved to take immediate steps to put the party back on the path of growth. What we are trying to do is to win the peace.
'In this view, the National Working Committee of the party under my leadership has resolved to discontinue any outstanding case on the APGA leadership question in which our former members were sued.
'We will only permit suit No. FHC/A CS/478/05 to run its full course because of its significance in giving judicial pronouncement on the relationship between INEC and political parties in natters concerning intra party disputes," he said.
On the granting of unconditional pardon to the dramatis personae that had held the party by the jugular for over 40 months, Okorie said he was doing it in preparations to regaining lost grounds and to repositioning the party ahead of 2011 general elections.
'The damage the crisis did to the party is monumental and heart-breaking. From a political party that scored appreciable number of electoral victories with little or no resources in its war-chest, relying almost on the power of its message in the 2003 election, the party plummeted to zero result in all elections in the 2007 general elections.
'This ugly picture is most prominent in Anambra State, where the party formed the state government and in spite of the advantages of incumbency, recorded zero result in the 2007 general election, resulting in the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wining all the 30 seats in the state Assembly, 11 out of the 12 seats in the House of Representatives and all the three senatorial seats," he said.
For those who would take advantage of the pardon, he directed party leaders at the Ward level to register all returnees and revalidate authentic membership cards at no extra cost.