APP rejects judgement on Rivers LG polls

The Action Peoples Party (APP) has rejected a judgement from the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja presided by Justice Peter Lifu, halting the October 5 Local Government Area elections in Rivers State.

Justice Lifu, in a ruling on Monday, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to release its 2023 Voter’s Register to the Rivers State Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the polls.

But APP National Chairman, Barr Uchenna Nnadi, in Press conference in Port Harcourt, criticised the judgement as “judicial rascality,” citing contradictions with the judge’s previous ruling on the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) state leadership rights.

Nnadi noted that Justice Lifu had previously ruled that the state leadership of the PDP has the right to present legal representation on issues within the party in the state. However, in a matter brought by the All Progressives Congress (APC), the judge contradicted himself, ruling that the APC in the state is not a legal entity and cannot present a representative in court.

The APP chairman argued that the court’s conflicting decisions undermine its credibility, stating that “the same court cannot speak from both sides of its mouth” and that “a judgement that contracts itself cannot stand.”

He said, “Just this afternoon we received with great shock another conflicting judgement from Federal High Court Abuja, though not surprised considering the particular court the said judgement is coming from. As laughable as this judgement may sound, this joke has been taken too far, and it is high time it stopped.

“This Court cannot create a different channel of reasoning different from the established precedent, as doing so will amount to judicial confusion, conflict of decision, judicial impertinence, and judicial rascality.” These were the words of Justice Lifu on the 20th of September 2024, just 10 days ago.

“In today’s judgement delivered by the same Justice Lifu on the issue of legal representation of a political party between the National and Rivers State Chapters of APC, the court somersaulted and made a total departure from his earlier judgement of 10 days and held that the state chapter of the party is not a juristic person and that it is the National Legal Adviser of APC that has the duty and authority to appoint counsel to represent APC, and the Court does not have the jurisdiction to interfere with the internal affairs of a political party.”

He called on the High Court President, Justice, John Tsoho, to make efforts to end the rascality emanating from the high courts, especially those of Abuja.

Nnadi called on the High Court President to open an investigation into the conflicting judgements of the same court presided over by Justice Lifu, questioning while all state matters from Rivers would end in Lifu’s court.

He said, “We call on the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Hon. Justice John Tsoho, to put a stop to this madness of reducing the Federal High Court to a shopping mall where politicians shop for orders, injunctions, and judgements like commodities. This is the perception of the members of the public, and it must be stopped to save our democracy.”

Nnadi, who rejected the judgement, stated that Lifu’s judgement cannot override the judgement of Justice Igwe of the Rivers State High Court, which had earlier ordered the INEC to release the voter’s register to the RSIEC, adding that both are courts of coordinated jurisdiction.

He, however, urged members of the party to come out en masse on Saturday to participate in the election, adding that the state is already empowered by the judgement of the High Court in Rivers State to go on with the election.