The seven-member Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, led by Tony Okocha was dismissed in a ruling by the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt.
This committee was previously appointed by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Justice Sika Aprioku, delivering the ruling on Monday, reinstated the executive committee led by Emeka Beke as the legitimate leadership of the APC in Rivers State.
The ruling was in response to a suit filed by Sam Sam Etetegwung and others on behalf of the democratically elected APC executive in the state.
The ruling has brought relief to the Beke-led faction, which had contested the legitimacy of the caretaker committee.
Meanwhile, the caretaker committee of the party, headed by Okocha has rejected the judgment of the Rivers State High Court delivered by Hon. Justice Sika H. Aprioku.
In a statement by Chibike Ikenga, publicity secretary of the CTC recalled that “the Leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Rivers State on sensing the overt interest of the Judge in the matter, petitioned to the Chief Judge of Rivers State requesting that Hon. Justice Sika H. Aprioku recuse himself from the case or the Chief Judge transfer the matter to another judge of Rivers State, but to no avail. Today, Hon Justice Sika H. Aprioku has vindicated us by his judgement.”
Ikenga noted that these matters were not vacation cases. “They were taken before vacation and adjourned. We were surprised that the judge had to call us back during vacation for a matter that has no urgency and no time limit. As a party in the suit, we never applied for the matter to be brought as vacation matter, the Chief Judge did not also serve us any application from the other party for that purpose.
“Interestingly, in his judgement, the Judge went against all the principles of law established by the Supreme Court of Nigeria and as we have known them as a political party, especially, in APC vs Igo Aguma, APC vs. Dele Moses, both originating from the same Rivers State High Court.
“In such a critical case challenging the decision and actions of the APC, the Judge said that APC need not to be joined as a party, yet it went ahead to make orders against the APC. Our lawyers raised objection which were totally ignored by the Judge. In the recent case of APC vs Dele Moses and APC vs Igo Aguma the Supreme Court restated that the court COURT DOES NOT HAVE JURISDICTION TO DABBLE INTO THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF A POLITICAL PARTY. However, the Judge holds the view that the Justices of the Supreme Court were wrong and so overruled them. The Judge also said the plaintiff does not have to exhaust the internal dispute resolution mechanism of the APC.”
Hon Ikenga revealed that the party had already instructed its team of lawyers to appeal the case. “We have instructed our lawyers to immediately take steps to appeal against the judgement. We are only worried for the judiciary. It is only a matter of time before the true motive for this kind of rebellious judgement against earlier decisions/judgements of the Supreme Court will be exposed.
“The Caretaker Committee of the APC, Rivers State, led by Chief Tony Okocha is still on the saddle and is fully in charge of the affairs of the party-APC in the State.”
