Wike’s Loyalists Lose Control Of Rivers APC In Fresh Court Judgement
•We’ll Appeal Ruling – CTC
From MAUREEN DICK and ERIC MOORE, Port Harcourt
The All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in Rivers State aligned with the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has been ousted by a ruling from the State High Court in Port Harcourt, on Monday.
The court dismissed the seven-member Caretaker Committee led by Tony Okocha, who was appointed by the APC’s National Working Committee (NWC).
In a ruling on Monday, Justice Sika Aprioku addressed a suit brought by Sam Sam Etetegwung, Banarth Ezemoye, Ezekiel Ubom and others, who sought to uphold the democratically elected All Progressives Congress executive in the state.
The court reinstated the executive led by Emeka Beke, as the legitimate leadership of the party in Rivers State.
Reacting to the judgement, the ousted CTC said it was not surprised that Justice Aprioku would rule in that direction.
Publicity Secretary of
Caretaker Committee,
APC, Rivers State, Chibike Ikenga, in a statement, said the judge delivered a judgement against APC, a party that was not before the court.
Ikenga explained: “The judgement of the Rivers State High Court delivered today, the 12th day of August, 2024 by Hon. Justice Sika H. Aprioku in the suit filed by Sam Etetegwung against HE. Abdullahi Ganduje & Ors, did not come as a surprise to the leadership of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Rivers State.
“Hon Etetegwung, former State Secretary of APC brought an action challenging the decision of the APC dissolving the State Work Committee (SWC) in Rivers State on account of the anti-party activities of members of that SWC during the 2023 general election in the state.
“You will recall 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.”
“It is important to note 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 needs 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.”
The Tony Okocha-led CTC of APC said it was not perturbed by the judgement, disclosing that they would appeal the verdict.
Ikenga said: “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.”
The CTC urged its genuine party members to remain focused on rebuilding and repositioning the party in Rivers State and refuse to be distracted.
The committee claimed that those rejoining are people, plotting to undermine President Bola Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda, the APC and supporters, “in their quest to overthrow the government and get back to power through unconstitutional means.”