The suspended All Progressive Congress State Chairman of Benue State has dragged the National Chairman of the Party Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje before the court for an allegation of contempt of court over his removal.
On Wednesday, the Benue State High Court prevented the party’s national working committee from dissolving the state chapter, which was led by Austine Agada.
The news twist has brought a new scenario to the crisis rocking the party in the state. The party’s crisis has lasted for over a year since Governor Hycienth Alia of the APC assumed office. The suspended chairman has stated that the APC national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has disobeyed the court order.
The national exco announced the exco’s suspension on Wednesday, inaugurating a caretaker committee to manage the party’s affairs.
The suspended chairman and the eight other members of the exco went on to approach the court to file a contempt of court charge against the Ganduje-led NWC of the APC.
In the motion, the Agada-led suspended exco asked the court to come to the Ganduje-led NWC to obey the court’s decision, which stated that the exco should not be removed from office for any reason until their tenure expired after four years. The motion was marked MHC/1585/M/2024.
The suspended exco has also asked the court to sanction the Ganduje-led NWC for disobeying the court’s earlier decision.
In his evidence to the court, Agada’s counsel showed that the court’s order was properly served to the NWC at about 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
He claimed that the court’s order was properly served at the party’s legal adviser’s office at about 4:02 p.m. on Wednesday at the party’s National secretariat in Abuja.
The suspended chairman stated that he was shocked that on the evening of Wednesday, 21st August 2024, at 6 pm, the leaders of the party led Ganduje held a meeting and resolved to dissolve the executive committee which he led and appointed a caretaker committee against the earlier court order.
He noted that the decision of the NWC was displayed on several television stations the same night at 8 p.m., and several other news outlets broadcast the news across the country.
