Court Nullifies APC Primaries in Rivers; Party Says Ruling Dead on Arrival

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has nullified the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

Justice E.A. Obile, delivered the judgment, yesterday, in a suit brought before it by some aggrieved members of the party in the state, who had during the primaries of the party, lamented exclusion.

But the leadership of the APC in the state, has described the judgement as another ploy to stop the party from participating in the 2023 general election in Rivers, saying it was dead on arrival.

Some members of the the APC had during the primaries alleged exclusion and took protest to the state secretariat of the party in Port Harcourt.

However, One George Orlu and four others, who claimed to have purchased nomination forms, had approached the court requesting that the primaries of APC in state be nullified following their alleged exclusion in the process.

The court in its decision yesterday ruled that the persons were unlawfully excluded from the primaries, because they were shut out of the primaries unlawfully, adding also that the process amounted to nullity.

Obila further agreed in judgement with the plaintiffs that they were wrongly excluded in the process to participate in the party primaries, and ruled that all those elected from the primary stood nullified and should not be recognised as candidates.

Meanwhile, the Rivers through its publicity secretary, Mr Darlington Nwauju, said no matter the efforts by some enemies of the party to shut them out, APC would be on the ballot in 2023.

He said it was an internal matter involving the party and some aggrieved members, who had left the party for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), assuring that the issue would be sorted out.

“Our immediate response is that the supreme court has decided on a plethora of cases suggesting that political parties are their own CEOs and can regulate their own internal affairs.

“The subject matter for which Justice E. A Obile granted the relief of plaintiffs to nullify the congresses of our party is entirely an internal party affair, therefore, it’s a travesty of justice as far as we are concerned.

“Secondly, the persons, who went to court against our party are now members of the SDP and therefore meddlesome interlopers in our internal affairs.

“We do believe firmly that the appellate courts shall treat the matter dispassionately and deliver justice in this matter, because this is not an action against the primaries of our party but an attempt at challenging the composition of our delegates list.

“We assure Rivers people that the attempt to rehash the 2019 episode in Rivers State is already dead on arrival. Nothing will stop the APC in Rivers State from being on the ballot in 2023,” Nwauju stated