Hoodlums Sack Court As Abia APC Leadership Crisis Depeens

An Abia State High Court sitting at Okpuala Ngwa, was wednesday
sacked by hoodlums, who stormed the temple of justice apparently to
halt the ongoing legal tussle over the authentic leadership of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

The court case is expected to determine if Abia APC would
present candidates in the 2019 general election as a court order
was ignored to conduct party congresses and when the primaries
later held, it produced parallel candidates.

The presiding judge, Justice Collinton Okoroafor, was forced to
stay away from the court as pandemonium reigned inside and outside
the court before his arrival. The court clerk later told lawyers
that the judge had sent words that for security reasons, the court
would resume sitting on October 31, 2018.

The Abia chapter of APC has been engulfed in leadership tussle
with Hon. Donatus Nwankpa, as chairman of a faction, while Emmanuel
Ndukwe, leads the faction recognised by the court as the authentic
leadership of Abia APC.

The judge was billed to hear the motion filed by Nwankpa and his
co-respondents seeking to transfer the case to another court and
another motion filed by the plaintiffs seeking to nullify every
action taken by Nwankpa after the court had issued an order sacking
him from office.

Hell was let loose as the hoodlums took over the entire court
premises, blocked the two entries into the court and screened
people entering the court room to ensure that only APC members
belonging to the faction led by Nwankpa were allowed into the
court.

Signs of trouble started manifesting when a bus loaded with
hoodlums arrived at the court premises and discharged hefty looking
men some wearing masks and armed with guns and matchets. The bus
driver made several trips bringing more thugs to saturate the court
premises.

Some of the hoodlums positioned along the road leading to the
court intercepted people from the opposing faction, beating them
and inflicting wounds on several of the people in the opposing
camp.

The state Publicity Secretary of the Ndukwe led faction, Mike
Ozoemana, was beaten black and blue and his Toyota 4 Runner jeep
seized by men who claimed to be from the State Anti-Robbery Squad,
said to have been called by those that brought the thugs.

Justice Okoroafor had on March 8, 2018, issued an order
restraining Nwankpa from parading himself as the chairman of Abia
APC pending the determination of the case brought against him by
aggrieved party members. The then national chairman of the party,
Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, was also restrained from recognising
Nwankpa as chairman.

However, the embattled Abia APC chairman was peeved by the court
order which he described as “kangaroo court order and a nullity”
and on June 28, 2018, when he failed in his bid to be granted
extension of time to file application to vacate the order, he
described the affirmation of the earlier restraining order as
“judicial rascality”.

The respondents in the matter have already expressed
dissatisfaction at the way the case was going and without the
knowledge of the presiding judge and the legal team of the
plaintiffs the case file was removed.

Sensing an attempt to pervert justice, the Ndukwe- led APC
petitioned the Abia State Judicial Service Commission (SJC) calling
for thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding the
disappearance of the case file.

Specifically, the petitioners urged the SJC to investigate the
chief registrar of the state high court, Mr. Benson Anya, and
senior registrar at the high court in Okpuala Ngwa, Mr. E.E.
Nwogwugwu, for “connivance” in removing the case file “without due
notification of the, consent and approval of the presiding judge,
Hon Justice C.U. Okoroafor.”