Twenty-four hours after they were dissolved, the aggrieved executive members of the Benue chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have sued the party’s National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for ignoring the exparte order restraining the National Working Committee from carrying out the action.
Recall that a High Court in Benue had ordered the APC not to remove Agada and the current executives of the party.
A copy of the exparte order granted by Justice Theresa Igoche in motion No MH /1585m/2024 stopped the Ganduje-led NWC from sacking the Austin Agada-led State Working Committee until the expiration of their four-year tenure.
Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Benue chapter of the ruling party had been at loggerheads over the leadership of the party in the state.
According to Punch, the Agada-led state working committee has the support of the Government of the Federation, George Akume while the Benjamin Omakolo-led faction has the backing of Alia.
However, the national leadership of the APC ignored the court order and announced the dissolution of the Benue exco on Wednesday.
In its place, the party inaugurated a seven-man caretaker Committee to take over the affairs of the party at the state level for six months.
Benjamin leads the new committee as chairman and Prof Bem Angwe serves as secretary.
Other members are Richard Mzungweve, James Ornguga, Terhemen Ngbea, Helen Agaigbe and Ali Adah.
Reacting to the action, Agada, alongside eight other executive members, on Thursday, approached the Benue High Court to demand that contempt of court charges be slammed on Ganduje and his NWC members.
In motion No: MHC/1585/M/2024, the Agada-led exco prayed the court to compel the party leadership to adhere to the decision not to remove them from office until the expiration of their four-year tenure.
They also begged the court to issue a punitive measure against the NWC over its disobedience of the earlier restraining order.
