Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the All Progressives Congress National Executive Committee, the immediate past national secretary of the ruling party, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, has warned the leadership of the party under Senator Abdullahi Adamu not to accord recognition to Stephen Leo Ntukekpo as State Chairman of Akwa-Ibom State chapter of the APC.
Checks revealed that State Chairmen are statutory members of the NEC.
Senator Akpanudoedehe who conveyed his position through his counsel, Taiwo E. Taiwo, SAN noted that giving recognition to Honourable Ntukekpo would further amount to contempt of pronouncement of a Court of Appeal which ruled on April 7, 2022, that Augustine Ekanem remained the chairman of the party in the South-South state pending the determination of a suit before him.
Akpanudoedehe’s counsel in his letter dated April 19, 2022 entitled, ‘Non-compliance with the Order of Court of Appeal,’ declared that the attendance of the meeting by Mr. Stephen Leo Ntukekpo “parading himself as the Akwa Ibom State Executive Chairman of the party shall constitute a further serial breach and or noncompliance with the extant order of the Court of Appeal. We, therefore, advise against admitting him into the NEC meeting as doing otherwise would constitute a further noncompliance and total disregard to the extant orders of the Court of Appeal. Be warned.”
The letter read in part: “We have the instruction of our client, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, to write to you regarding the aforesaid subject matter.
“Our client informed us that as the Appellant in the appeal under reference, he was in court when the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja made an Order on the 7 of April, 2022 directing that the status quo be maintained with regards to the judgment of the trial Court pending the determination of the extant Motion for Stay of Execution as well as the Motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the appeal.
“A copy of the said order is for the umpteenth time made available and same is attached as ANNEXURE 001 for your ease of reference.
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“We gather from him that the said Order was served on your Legal Department on the 11 of April, 2022 besides the fact that you were represented by your counsel in court when the Order was made as is apparent on the face of the Order.
“We further gather from him that in spite of the order, the 1st Respondent (Mr. Stephen Leo Ntukekpo) presented himself to the party to be sworn in as the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of the party and was obliged by the party.
“This was done despite the fact that both Stephen Leo Ntukekpo and the party are parties in the Appeal and therefore bound by the order of the Honourable Court of Appeal as it were.
“Thereafter, he (Mr. Stephen Leo Ntukekpo) i.e. the 1st Respondent in the appeal proceeded to Akwa Ibom State to swear in some other people as what he called members of his Executive Council both at the State and Local Government Levels, thereby further altering in a serial manner the status quo that was ordered to be maintained by the Court of Appeal.
“Our client furthered informed us and we verily believe him that the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the party has been scheduled to hold on the 20, April, 2022. TAKE NOTICE therefore that the attendance of the meeting by the 1st Respondent (Mr. Stephen Leo Ntukekpo) parading himself as the Akwa Ibom State Executive Chairman of the party shall constitute a further serial breach and or noncompliance with the extant order of the Court of Appeal.
“We, therefore, advise against admitting him into the NEC meeting as doing otherwise would constitute a further noncompliance and total disregard to the extant orders of the Court of Appeal. Be warned.”
and then