Is INEC Biased in Rivers APC Crisis?

The different factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State are waiting for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to explain its role in the monitoring of the congresses conducted by a faction of the party in the state, which produced Mr. Tony Okocha as the chairman of the party in the state despite an order of the state High Court restraining the party from conducting the election.

Some members of the APC in the state, Sam Etetegwung, Banarth Ezemoye and others, had filed the suit seeking that the Emeka Beke-led leadership of the APC in the state be reinstated after they were suspended and subsequently removed from office by the national leadership of the APC.

In his ruling, Justice Sika Aprioku issued a perpetual injunction against the then Okocha-led Caretaker Committee and restraining them from taking further steps that would distract the Beke-led elected executive till the expiration of their four years’ tenure.

The court also restrained the national leadership of the APC from further recognising the Okocha-led executive and compelled them to henceforth begin to recognise Beke’s led executive as authentic executive of the party till their four years’ expiration.

When the APC issued notice of its congresses, the state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt also issued an ex parte order restraining the party and its National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, from proceeding with the congresses without resolving the issues in court.

But the APC went ahead to conduct the congresses monitored by INEC.

Consequent upon the disobedience of the order, Justice Godswill Ogbomanu, in his ruling, nullified the congresses by the party, citing the order of the court restraining the party from going ahead with the congress. He then awarded a N10 million fine against the APC.

The legal questions to ask are: Why will the commission be part of such illegality? Did the APC members that obtained the restraining order against holding the congresses not join INEC in the suit? Whose interest was INEC serving? 

The various factions of APC need answers to these questions.