Alleged constitutional breach threatens APC reconciliation efforts in Delta

The reconciliation efforts of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Delta State led by party founding leader, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor may be in jeopardy due to an alleged constitutional breach by the state party Chairman, Elder Omeni Sobotie, in constituting the Committee.

A top  Delta APC legal expert, Barr. Michael Ukusare in a letter to Sobotie claimed that the formation of an “Expanded State Caucus” which appointed Emerhor was unconstitutional as the APC constitution does not provide for such a caucus. Ukusare who has diligently defended the party legally in the past warned that any actions from the illegal committee could face credibility issues.

The letter which was copied to HE, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, CFR, former APC Governorship candidate of Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor (Founding Leader, APC Delta State) two serving Senators under the party, Sen. Ede Dafinone (Senator Representing, Delta Central Senatorial District) and Sen. Joel Onowakpo-Thomas (Senator Representing Delta South Senatorial District with several party leaders and head of security agencies and directly addressed to Elder Omeni Sobotie, and written on the 4th of May, highlighted the party gains in the state during the 2023 elections winning two senatorial seats and eight federal and state legislature seats.

However, Ukusare pointed out that the breach could undermine reconciliation efforts aimed at consolidating these gains if left unaddressed.

The letter: “Dear Sir, NEED FOR URGENT CORRECTION OF A MAJOR CONSTITUTIONAL ERROR UPON WHICH OLOROGUN O’TEGA EMERHOR’S RECONCILIATION AND PEACE EFFORTS ARE BUILT:

1. I write as a bonafide member, stakeholder and leader of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Uvwie Local Government Area. I have the regular honour of playing significant roles in protecting the interests of our party, including pro bono court appearances as its legal counsel. I do these because I have faith in the fundamentals of our party’s progressive ideology.

2. Sir, as you are aware my last successful court outing for the party at the instance of our Leader and Deputy President of the 9th Senate of the Republic, His Excellency, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, CFR is the only reason why the present State, Local Government and Ward Executives of the party in Delta State are still in office today. This was in the case of Iyekekpolor Goodluck & 9 Ors v. APC, Elder Omeni Sobotie & 13 Ors (Suit No. A/78/2023) where the judgment was delivered in favour of APC on the 8th day of February 2024 by the Delta State High Court. I am therefore in a vantage position to speak to protect our common interest, especially from a legal standpoint.

3. Media reports have it that you presided over the meeting of a so-called ‘Expanded State Caucus’ of the APC in Delta State that appointed our highly respected founding leader of the Delta State APC, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, CON as the Chairman of a Reconciliation Committee to lead efforts for peace in the party. By a published press release supposed made by Olorogun Emerhor few days ago partly announcing his said appointment by the said ‘Expanded State Caucus’, I am further aware that he is ready to lead the party’s desire to increase its strengths by building much-needed post-election harmony and peace following our major successes and regrettable denials in the 2023 general elections.

4. Mr. Chairman, I speak objectively of “major successes” in the sense that this is the first time since 1999 that an opposition party was able to easily clinch two (2) senatorial seats in Delta State. Our party also won eight (8) seats in both the House of Representatives and the Delta State House of Representatives combined.

5. Although we were regrettably denied a clear victory in the 2023 Delta State Governorship Election, a match of the lawful votes cast at the election with the spirit and letters of the new national electoral reforms has led to a reasoned consensus by a great many that the election was clearly won by our leader, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege. This denial notwithstanding, the final electoral outcomes, as adjudged by the judiciary as our final electoral arbiter, attest to the incontestable fact that the APC made its strongest electoral impact in Delta State in 2023.

6. Going by this, it is undoubtedly well-advised to take proper steps to build on our 2023 successes rather than allow anyone within the party to rubbish our gains and make it difficult to make even better gains in the future. Like all responsible leaders of the APC, I am therefore wholly aligned with any lawful effort to give the party greater traction to succeed, starting with genuine reconciliation and cementing of all possible cracks within its ranks, where there are any.

7. Sir, as founding leader of the party in Delta State, the respected Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, CON is unquestionably eminently qualified to help the party to make more progress, peacefully. However, that onerous duty is circumscribed and guided wholly by the Constitution of the party. Any effort supposedly taken by the party outside its constitution is ab initio a nullity because, as we say in law, nobody builds anything on nothing and expects it to stand.

8. Sir, I wish that Olorogun O’tega succeeds as a peace builder, but he can only do so if a fundamental error committed solely by you as the State Chairman in calling for and chairing the meeting of the body not recognised by the constitution of the party is immediately rectified by the State Executive Committee that is imbued with the power to do so, otherwise, we are heading to a dead constitutional end.

9. Sir, you clearly, absolutely and corruptly abused the powers of your office under the party’s constitution and acted in gross violation of the same when you unilaterally called and chaired an illegitimate so-called ‘Expanded State Caucus’ meeting of the party in Asaba on the 22nd day of April 2024. This is a serious breach of the party’s constitution but one is not inclined to focus on this breach.

10. There is nothing like an ‘Expanded State Caucus’ in the entirety of the APC’s Constitution and nobody can contest this naked factual reality. The appellation ‘Expanded State Caucus’ is alien to the APC Constitution and its operation. Article 11, paragraph B(ii) of the APC Constitution clearly provides for a State Caucus, as an organ of the party, not a ‘Expanded State Caucus’. Yes, I have tremendous respect for all leaders who attended or participated in that meeting, but the Constitution defines the limit of our respect for people and processes.

11. Nobody, including you Sir, has the arbitrary power and authority to unilaterally expand the party’s constitution. Doing so is a breach of the constitution itself for which appropriate sanctions ought to easily apply or a legal challenge ought to be initiated by stakeholders following due process, but these are not of interest to peace lovers like me, at least for now. The focus is strictly on abiding obedience to the constitution.

12. Sir, maybe to avoid dictatorship, our party’s constitution unequivocally delineates the composition of the State Caucus in Article 12, paragraph 10, leaving no room for ambiguity or whimsical, subjective interpretations. The only appointments to the State Caucus allowed under Article 12.10 of the party is the inclusion of two (2) women per Senatorial District (a total of 6 women) and this must be done collectively by the State Executive Committee (SEC), not one individual like you did. No SEC meeting was held before the so-called Expanded State Caucus meeting to co-opt the 6 women into the State Caucus, and this says much on this point.

13. Sir, clearly, to the extent that your so-called ‘Expanded State Caucus’ meeting of April 22, 2024, at Asaba was actually attended by persons who are not recognized by the constitution as ‘State Caucus’ members, you blatantly violated the party’s constitution and same ought to be urgently corrected by the State Executive Committee (SEC).

 

14. In this circumstance, it is strongly advised and warned that the SEC ought to and should urgently meet to constitute the Emerhor much-needed Reconciliation and Peace Committee lawfully and properly to do its job without any fear of collectively being trashed in either an administrative or judicial bin.
Sir, my sole interest is the success of Olorogun Emerhor’s peace-building efforts as a respected leader of the Party, subject to the party’s constitution and the law.