The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie Oyegun has described the recent Supreme Court judgement, which upheld the victory of Governor Nyesom Wike as astonishing.
Odigie-Oyegun, who met a high level delegation led by the APC governorship candidate for Rivers state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja noted that the Supreme Court verdict underlined the fact that there was something fundamentally wrong with the judiciary.
Lamenting the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict, he dropped the hint that the APC would not rest on its oars until it unravels how the Supreme Court arrived at the decision to okay Wike’s electoral victory.
Assuring that the party national leadership will give necessary support to ensure successes in subsequent elections in Rivers State, he promised to approach the Presidency on the fears that the party’s candidates in the Rivers and Anambra states rerun poll might not be allowed a level playing field to contest for the various positions in the poll.
He noted: “The APC national leadership has not neglected party leaders and supporters in Rivers State. The state has always been in the front burner of discussion and decision in the party. There is obviously something fundamentally wrong in Rivers state, which needs to be investigated and addressed.
“Your visit has had a sober effect on me. This meeting will kick start urgent actions to address what went wrong.
“As of today, there are attempts by INEC to bar us from elections in Anambra and other states. We must address these issues. I still find the judgement on the Rivers State governorship election totally astonishing.”
Earlier on, Peterside canvassed the support of the APC chief to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari’s on the need to address the Rivers state APC chapter affairs and the political fortunes it’s teeming supporters in the state.
Expressing disappointment over the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict, Peterside claimed that due to the unflinching support party leaders and members gave President Buhari and the APC at the poll, they have now been exposed to undue attacks and hatred and internal discriminations.
Peterside maintained that there were Indications that both the independent national electoral commission (INEC) as well as the security outfits was skewed against the APC and still working against and frustrating APC activities in the state.
He noted: “The partisanship against us was and is still enormous,” he said.Said he: “It will interest you to know that many of our members, supporters and sympathisers are still at a loss to see us work as orphans. We have a herculean task explaining to them that we actually form government at the centre. It is like we lost the elections.
Peterside maintained that to an overwhelming majority of the APC party members, the only indication that it might be part of government at the federal level is because its leader and Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign, who with other marshaled to a people’s revolution that defeated the former ruling party, and former Governor Chubuike Rotimi Amaechi is a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
