The crisis rocking the Benue State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a new twist as the dissolved state executive members of the party led by Hon. Austin Agada have dragged the party’s National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to court for alleged contempt of court.
LEADERSHIP reports that the Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) of APC on Wednesday had appointed and inaugurated a seven-man Caretaker Committee for the Benue State chapter of the party.
The caretaker committee has Hon. Benjamin Omale as chairman, Professor Bem Angwe as the Secretary, Hons James Ornguga, Terhemen Ngbea, Helen Agaigbe, Ali Francis Adah and Richard Mzungweve, as members.
This was even as a Benue State High Court had on the same day ordered APC not to remove the chairman of the state chapter, Hon. Agada, and his exco.
Consequently, Agada and eight others, on Thursday, approached a Benue State High Court and slammed contempt charges against the Ganduje-led NWC of the APC.
In a motion on notice with no: MHC/1585/M/2024, the Agada-led Benue exco prayed the court to compel Ganduje and the NWC to adhere to the decision of the court not to remove them from office until the expiration of their four-year tenure.
The dissolved Benue exco also prayed the court to issue a punitive measure against the APC NWC over the disobedience of the earlier decision of the court.
Agada, in an affidavit deposed to by his counsel, M.T Aiyebo, insisted that the Ganduje-led NWC was duly served the order of the court on Wednesday at about 4pm.
He added that the service of the court order restraining the APC under Ganduje was also served at the office of the National Legal Adviser of the party at 4.02pm on Wednesday at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Agada, in the affidavit, expressed surprise that in the evening of Wednesday, August 21, 2024, at 6pm, Ganduje-led NWC held a meeting where they went ahead to dissolve his executive committee and appointed a caretaker committee against the earlier court order.
“That I saw on several Television stations that same evening about 8pm and several other news media that the Benue state Working Committee of the Respondent on record has been dissolved by the Respondent against whom the leave of this Honourable court is been sought,” he said.
The court held that: “This Honourable Court made an order In this case on the 21st day of August, 2024 against the Respondent on record. That the Respondent on record is a legal personality who operates and carries out its activities through the Respondent against whom the Applicants ‘are seeking the leave of this Honourable Court to enforce the order of this Court.
“The Respondent against the Applicants are seeking the leave of this Honourable court to enforce the order against, is the National Chairman of the Respondent on record and he is the head of the National Working Committee of . the Respondent on record.
“The order of this Honourable court dated the 21st August, 2024 was duly served on the Respondents against whom the leave Is being sought on the same 21st day of August, 2024.
“The Respondent on record disobeyed the order of this Honourable Court. AND for such further order or other orders as this Honourable court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.”