The leadership crisis within the Benue state chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) took a new turn on Thursday when the dissolved state executive members, led by Augustine Agada, initiated legal action against the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, for violating a court order.
Benue State High Court issued a ruling on Wednesday, prohibiting the Ganduje-led National Working Committee (NWC) from disbanding the state executive under Agada’s leadership. Nevertheless, the NWC proceeded to dissolve the state executive later that same day, disregarding the court’s directive.
In response, Agada and eight other members filed contempt charges against the Ganduje-led NWC at the Benue State High Court on Thursday. In their motion, referenced as MHC/1585/M/2024, the Agada-led executive requested the court to enforce compliance with the ruling that prevented their removal from office until the completion of their four-year term.
Additionally, they sought punitive measures against the Ganduje-led NWC for its noncompliance with the court’s prior decision. Agada, through an affidavit prepared by his attorney, M.T. Aiyebo, asserted that the Ganduje-led NWC had been properly notified of the court order on Wednesday at approximately 4 p.m. He further noted that the order restraining the APC under Ganduje was also delivered to the office of the National Legal Adviser at 4:02 p.m. on the same day.
Agada expressed astonishment that, on the evening of Wednesday, August 21, 2024, at 6 p.m., the Ganduje-led NWC convened a meeting during which they dissolved his executive committee and appointed a caretaker committee, in direct violation of the court order. He stated, “I observed on various television channels that evening around 8 p.m. and in several other news outlets that the Benue State Working Committee had been dissolved by the Respondent, against whom this court’s intervention is being sought.”
