Court bars APC from conducting congress in Rivers

Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Thursday has issued an exparte order halting the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leadership’s plans to conduct ward, local government, and state congresses on October 11, 16, and 26, 2024.

Justice Godwin O. Ollor’s ruling also restrains APC’s national chairman, Abdullahi Umar-Ganduje, and secretary, Surajudeen Ajibola-Basiru, from interfering with the activities of the state’s elected executive committee led by Chief Emeka Beke.

The claimants in the suits are, Peter Ohochukwu and Haija Ndidi-Chukwuma for themselves and all elected executive members of APC in the state, as the Inspector General of Police, Nigerian Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC were the defendants.

The plaintiffs had filed the suit to protect their rights as elected executive members of the APC in Rivers State.

The presiding Judge, Justice Ollor thereafter adjourned till the 9th Day of September 2024 for hearing of the Motion on Notice

Speaking outside the courtroom, Collins Dike, counsel to the claimants, said the national office’s plan was a clear attempt to render Justice Sika Aprioku’s earlier judgment null and void.

He said the judgment had validated the tenures of the elected executive committee members, led by Beke, until the expiration of their four-year term.

Dike argued that the APC’s national leadership was aware of the subsisting judgment but still proceeded to plan an elective congress, creating a new cause of action.

He stated that allowing the congress to hold would have been a blatant disregard for the court’s judgment.

However, he noted that the court’s ruling had effectively stopped the APC’s national leadership from conducting any elections or taking actions that could undermine Beke’s leadership in the state.