The internal leadership crisis rocking the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State has taken a new twist as a prominent legal firm has warned the party’s National Women Leader, Dr. Mary Alile, against attending an upcoming Women Stakeholders Conference in the state.
In a letter dated September 4, 2025, Tochukwu Maduka SAN & Co., acting on behalf of Dr. Nwafor Alphonsus Onyeacheonam; court recognised Acting Chairman of APC Enugu State, cautioned that Dr. Alile’s participation in the event could amount to contempt of court. The “APC Enugu State Women Stakeholders Conference” is scheduled for September 6, 2025, and is being organised by Hon. Ugochukwu Agballah.
The legal firm stated that Hon. Agballah and his group had been restrained by a court order from presenting themselves as executives of the APC in Enugu State. “Our client, Dr. Nwafor Alphonsus Onyeacheonam, was duly elected as the acting Chairman of the State Chapter following this suspension,” the letter noted, adding that Agballah was suspended by a two-thirds majority of the State Executive Committee on July 27, 2024, after a vote of no confidence.
The firm further cited a subsisting injunction from the High Court of Enugu State (Suit No: E/548M/2024), issued on August 7, 2024, which explicitly restrains Agballah and his group from “further acting and parading themselves as the State Party Chairman/Executives of Enugu State Chapter.” While an appeal has been filed, the lawyers stressed that “Hon. Ugochukwu Agballah and his group did not file any application for stay of execution and no order of stay of execution of the order of injunction against Hon. Ugochukwu Agballah had been made by either courts.”
The correspondence also insisted that Ngozi Omeh remains the legitimate acting Woman Leader of the APC Enugu State Chapter, not Dr. Amaka Onu, “who is purportedly being circulated by Hon. Agballah.”
The legal firm accused Agballah of mismanaging party funds, sidelining State Executive Committee members, conspiring with bank officials to access party accounts without authorisation, and using personal accounts for party finances. It also alleged that he created “parallel executives” in some wards. “The State Chairman through the Deputy State Chairman and State Organizing Secretary instigated and indeed created factional Ward Executives in Aku Ward 3 in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, and Abbi Ward in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area without the knowledge and consent of the State Executive Committee,” the letter stated.
Concluding, the firm warned Dr. Alile: “Honouring the invitation or sending a delegate would be seen as a direct affront to legal and equitable principles and could lead to appropriate judicial processes and actions against you that may include proceedings for contempt of court.”
As of press time, efforts to reach a spokesperson of the APC National Secretariat for comments were unsuccessful.
