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Tag: Rivers apc

  • Saturday polls: Three killed, electoral materials hijacked by PDP thugs – Rivers APC

    Saturday polls: Three killed, electoral materials hijacked by PDP thugs – Rivers APC

    The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday alleged that some gunmen allegedly working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) shot dead three of its members in the state during the ongoing presidential and national assembly polls.

    The party alleged that the violence was carried out at Asarama, Andoni Local Government Area, LGA of the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),Prince Uche Secondus.

    The party also alleged massive irregularities of the electoral process.

    This was revealed in a statement by the publicity of the party in the state, Chris Finebone.

    RIVERS ELECTION UPDATE

    PDP thugs have shot to death an APC chieftain in Asarama, Andoni LGA, Chief Mowan Etete. Etete was a former Andoni LG Council Chairman. Also, killed was his elder brother and another victim that is believed to be his cousin. It is instructive to note that PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus is from Andoni LGA in Rivers State.

    Ignatius, An Ex-official member of APC Rivers State Executive committee was also shot to death in Ajakaja, same Andoni LGA of Prince Secondus.

    REPORT FROM IKWERRE LGA

    Shooting by PDP thugs reported in Unit 3, 11, 6, & 7 in Ubima, Ikwerre LGA. Voters have been chased away.

     

    *REPORT FROM OBIO/AKPOR LGA*

    Ward 9: PDP thugs hijack all INEC materials.

    Ogbogoro Units 3,5,6: PDP Thugs hijacked all materials on their way to the center.

     

    Ward 6 – Ozuoba: APC tags were not signed and as a result, the agents were not allowed into the center.

     

    Ward 8 – Rumuekpe: PDP thugs are gyrating with Arms. Help from security agencies needed.

     

    Ward 16: Materials for units 4,5 and 6 are missing

     

    *REPORT ON AKULGA*

    Gun shots everywhere and nobody can come out to vote. PDP thugs chasing people away with guns.

    *REPORT FROM EMOHUA*

    WARD 10: Materials hijacked by Icelanders cult group.

    Senibo Chris Finebone

    APC Publicity Secretary Rivers State

    23/2/19

     

  • Rivers-APC denies alleged move to scuttle elections.

    Rivers-APC denies alleged move to scuttle elections.

    Mr Chris Finebone, Publicity Secretary, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers has denied allegation making round that the party plots to scuttle elections in Rivers.

    Finbone told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Port Harcourt that the accusation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a mere imagination.

    He also said that the allegation that the Transportation Minister,Mr Rotim Amaechi was holding secret meetings in Abuja and strategising to disrupt elections in the state was another mere imagination by PDP.

    “Well, the claim by PDP that the Minister for Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, is holding any meeting whatsoever, dwells only in the infantile imagination of the PDP characters behind such outlandish allegation,” he said.

    NAN reports that PDP , during a media briefing on Tuesday, accused APC of conniving with the security agencies and employing other undemocratic strategies to scuttle elections in parts of the state.

    Finebone urged the public not to take the accusation serious, adding that it was a deliberate attempt to discredit APC and to dissuade its teaming supporters.

    “Rivers PDP is doing exactly what the Holy Bible refers to as the guilty running when no one is pursuing.

    “We hereby warn PDP to desist from maligning innocent members of APC who have done nothing wrong, whatsoever.

  • Breaking: Supreme Court voids Appeal Court’s judgment on Rivers APC

    The Supreme Court has set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal, Port-Harcourt division on October 31, 2018.

    The court, in a unanimous judgment of a five-man panel, also dismissed the appeal, marked: CA/PH/198/2018 filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the interlocutory ruling by Justice C. Nwogu of the High Court of Rivers State on May 11, 2018.

    Justice Nwogu had, in his ruling in the suit, Marked: BHC/78/2018 filed by Ibrahim Umah and 22, granted an order of interlocutory injunction, restraining the respondent (APC) “from conducting any Local Government Area congress in Rivers State on May 12, 2018 or any other date.”

    Justice Dauda Sidi Bage, who read the lead judgment on Friday, dismissed the APC’s objection to the appeal, marked: SC/1070/2018 filed by Ibrahim Umah and 22 others against the APC and upheld the appeal.

  • Rivers APC reacts to Appeal Court judgement allowing it to field candidates

    Rivers APC reacts to Appeal Court judgement allowing it to field candidates

    The Rivers State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has officially reacted to a court judgement on Monday afternoon granting a stay of Execution on the Judgement of Justice Kolawole Omotosho of the Federal High Court which nullified all Primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from fielding the Party’s Candidates in the forthcoming 2019 elections.

    The party in a statement signed and released by its spokesperson, Chris Finebone said the judgement vindicated the party in the state.

    Read full statement below:

    WE HAVE BEEN VINDICATED – RIVERS APC

    The Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt today (Monday, 4th of February, 2019) has granted Stay of Execution on the Judgement of Justice Kolawole Omotosho of the Federal High Court which nullified all Primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from fielding the Party’s Candidates in the forthcoming 2019 elections.

    We have always said that the wheel of justice may grind slowly, sometimes annoyingly slowly, but surely justice comes ultimately. We believe that today’s judgment has vindicated APC in Rivers State.

    Now, anyone who has carefully and painstakingly followed our pending matter at the Supreme Court, especially, during the last sitting before the apex court reserved ruling, will easily and safely conclude that our victory at the Supreme Court is only a matter of time. The key issues of REPRESENTATION and JURISDICTION which Justice Chiwendu Nworgu deliberately overlooked in tailoring his judgment to fit into a predetermined purpose, and yet bandy it as a CONSENT judgment, will be completely deconstructed by the excellent legal minds on the Supreme Court bench. In this particular case, the end will justify our dogged efforts as we shall, once again, prevail by God’s grace!

    All Rivers APC faithful should remain resolute as we are set to recover all that Satan has battled so hard to take away from us.

    INEC, by today’s Appeal Court ruling, should by now be reinstating our candidates’ names on the ballot in line with the status quo before the pronouncement by the federal high court of Justice Omotosho.

  • [Interview] Rivers APC crisis, temporary setback – Dakuku

    [Interview] Rivers APC crisis, temporary setback – Dakuku

    INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF NIGERIAN MARITIME ADMINISTRATION AND SAFETY AGENCY (NIMASA), DR. DAKUKU PETERSIDE, AT THE PORT HARCOURT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2019.

    As the Deputy Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, are you comfortable with what is happening in the party now, especially the removal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of names of candidates of APC in Rivers State on the list of candidates that will vie during the February 16 and March 2 general elections?

    Politics is a process, it is not an event. It involves a number of activities and usually there will be an outcome. What is going on in the Rivers State APC is unfortunate, but it is part of the political evolution process. I am pained that it even happened in the first place, but I know that it is not the end in itself.

    What has happened in Rivers APC is some sort of temporary setback. I am optimistic that APC’s candidates will be on the ballot. I am very, very optimistic. I know that the judiciary is an important component of the political process. You cannot talk about politics, without talking about the judiciary and the roles of the judiciary, but my confidence is that ultimately, this issue will be resolved and APC’s candidates will be on the ballot, they will run the elections and Rivers people will have options. They will choose the candidates of APC above the other political parties.

    The other political party (Peoples Democratic Party) has disappointed Rivers people on all fronts. What the party (PDP) has done in the past three years and some months is to make more and more people lose confidence in the institution of government of Rivers State. They have embarked on outright lies, concocted stories and half truths. Rivers people are indeed tired of the mess. They cannot wait to get rid of the current government of Nyesom Wike. APC provides Rivers people the alternative, but unfortunately, we are going through our own challenges.

    Let me take advantage of this opportunity to plead with all members of APC to remain calm, confident, loyal and keep trusting the Almighty God. The end of this tortuous journey will come and it will be to God’s glory. All hope is not lost. Indeed, no hope is lost. One thing I am pretty sure of is that at the end of the tunnel, there is light and it will be to God’s own glory.

    We have embarked on series of engagements to get all the sides of the party and to get different interests in the party to understand that it is in our own interest to work together, that it is in our own interest to pursue the path of peace, unity and of course working for a common purpose. You cannot have a team, if you are not working for a common purpose. If you have persons working together at cross purposes, they will never achieve result.

    The only way to achieve result is when you work towards a common purpose. That actually makes you a team. We are a team of patriotic and progressive citizens of Rivers State, who want the best interest of Rivers State, as against our opponents in the other party (PDP), who are self-serving and usually pursuing their own narrow opportunistic interests.

    You are very close to Transportation Minister, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, a former Governor of Rivers State, who is the leader of APC in Rivers State and the South-South zone, but some members of your party in Rivers State are accusing him of being responsible for the crisis and that he should be blamed for the confusion. What is your reaction?

    It is not true that the Hon. Minister is responsible for the crisis. I do not believe that this is the time for blame game. A lot of things happened and blame game will not help us in any way. So, even as the leader of the party, it is wrong for me to join in the blame game.

    Depending on where you are standing, people accuse different individuals of being responsible. Some persons would say some persons are over ambitious outright and that because of their ambition, we are where we are. Some said some persons were uncooked in their language. Some accused the young people in the party of not handling their emotions with maturity.

    People have right to hold their opinions. You cannot hold it against anybody for holding an opinion. One thing that all of us have built consensus around and we are unanimous about is that there is a time for war and there is a time for peace. This is the time to ceasefire, engage with one another and to allow the common interest to prevail, over our narrow parochial interest.

    No man’s ambition should be superior to the collective interest of the party (APC) and Rivers people. Not mine, not anybody’s own. Nobody’s interest should be superior to the interest of the collective.

    So, I do not believe in the blame game. I do not support it. I will not embark on it. Rather, it is for all of us begin to engage with people. Let them see reason why we must all come to the table and agree on the best way forward and indeed work out a way forward, so that we will go and take over Government House, Port Harcourt from May 29, 2019 and begin to change the narratives in Rivers State.

    One of the governorship aspirants on the platform of APC in Rivers State, Senator Magnus Abe, who represents Rivers South-East Senatorial District, earlier stated that for peace to reign in Rivers APC, the governorship candidate of the party, Pastor Tonye Cole, must step down for him. Will the option actually ensure peace in the party, considering the fact that Rivers APC does not have candidates for the forthcoming general elections?

    It is not true. I have had cause to engage with Senator Magnus Ngei Abe and he could not have taken that position. I can say it on good authority that his minimum condition cannot be that Tonye Cole should step down for him to become the governorship candidate of APC in Rivers State. He has never said so. He realises the need for all of us to work together and I believe that reason will prevail at the appropriate time.

    Are there plans to settle out of court?

    All options are on the table. There is nothing anybody can rule out. What matters to all of us is the victory of APC in the elections and whatever needs to be done and whatever should be done will be done, to ensure that we all operate on the same frequency, to deliver the party (APC) in the elections.

    National Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) elections are four weeks away, while the state’s elections are six weeks away. That is not a lot of time in politics. It is actually time to consolidate and get the buying-in of the people of Rivers State, get their support, coast home to victory and sing the victory song for the good of the people of Rivers State.

    Would members of Rivers APC have done things differently to get different result from the current situation?

    In all cases, there is always room to do things differently, even for the best of the best. There is no case where you have only one way of achieving result. So, it is possible that things could have been done differently and we would have got different outcome, but I do not think that is the issue now. We have gone past that stage.

    The issue is that there is critical need for all of us to come together to work towards a common purpose. There is the need for all of us to lay aside our different interests and the different weights that thus far oppress us.

    I want to reassure members of APC and indeed all Rivers people that the APC will be on the ballot, there is need for all of us to be calm, there is need for all of us to work together and there is need for us to remain confident of the judicial process, that it will turn out for our good, ultimately. Most importantly, beneath all of this is the need for unity and the need for us to work as a team. No one person can do it alone.

    Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, accused Transportation Minister (Amaechi) of being behind the trial of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, with the intention to remove him for not supporting the APC and its candidates. Is it true?

    Nothing can be more spurious, laughable and childish than that statement by the governor of Rivers State. I am not taken aback at all, because the governor is known to promote lies as truth, he has also acquired the status of a pathological liar. Wike is a man who concocts stories, distorts facts and presents half-truths as the truth.

    In this specific instance, there is no iota of truth in it. Rt. Hon. Amaechi has absolutely no hand in the matter. He is not a judicial officer, he is not an intelligence officer and he does not work for any of the intelligence agencies. I cannot understand the connection between the work of the intelligence agencies, the anti-graft agencies and the judiciary. There is absolutely no iota of truth in it.

    Wike claimed that transportation minister had conversation with somebody that he (Amaechi) was behind the CJN’s travails. There is no truth in it. It is the trademark of Rivers governor to concoct stories. Rivers people and other Nigerians know Wike for who he is. So, I do not believe that anybody will take him seriously.

    As alleged by Governor Wike, is it really true that members and leaders of APC in Rivers State have Plan-B of working with the governorship candidate of Accord Party, Chief Dumo Lulu-Briggs, who until about three months ago was a governorship aspirant on the platform of APC, in case you are not successful with the court cases?

    Wike is not a member of APC. Wike is not a member of our political family and he cannot be a member of our political family. When Rivers governor embarks on these kind of wild lies and baseless allegations, they ridicule him. There is no truth in having Plan-B or working with Dumo Lulu-Briggs.

  • 2019: Rivers APC Candidates will be on the ballot – Dakuku Peterside

    …Calls on APC members to remain calm

     

    The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has expressed the optimism that the governorship and other candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State will be on the ballot in the 2019 general election.

    Speaking to journalists on arrival at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Port Harcourt, Saturday, Dr. Dakuku Peterside said that the challenge the APC in the state is experiencing is temporary and will soon be a thing of the past.

    “I am very confident that APC governorship and other candidates will be on the 2019 election ballot. I know that the judiciary is an important component of the political process. You can’t talk about politics without talking about the judiciary or the role of the judiciary. So, my confidence is that ultimately this issue will be resolved, APC candidates will be on the ballot and run the election. And Rivers people will have options and I know that they will choose the candidates of the APC above the other political party.

    “You know that the other political party has disappointed Rivers people on all fronts. What they have done in the past three and half years is that they have made more and more people lose confidence in the institution of government of Rivers State. They have embarked on outright lies, concocted stories and half-truths and Rivers people are indeed tired of the mess. The people cannot wait to get rid of the current government in the state and APC provides them that alternative. But unfortunately, we are going through our own challenges.

    “Let me take advantage of this opportunity to appeal to all members of the APC to remain calm, confident, loyal and keep trusting the Almighty God. That the end of this tortuous journey will come and it will be to God’s glory. All hope is not lost; indeed no hope is lost. One thing I’m pretty sure of is that at the end of the tunnel there is light and it will be to God’s own glory.

    “We have embarked on series of engagements to get all sides of the party, to get different interests in the party to understand that it is in our collective interest to work together. It is in our interest to pursue the path of peace, unity and, of course, working for the common purpose. You cannot have a team if you are not working for a common purpose. If you have persons working at cross purposes you can never achieve results. That makes you a team and we are a team of patriotic and progressive citizens of Rivers State who want the best for our state as against our opponents in the other party who are self-serving and usually pursuing their own narrow opportunistic interests. That is where we are.

    “It is not true that the Honourable Minister is responsible for the crisis in our party. I don’t believe that this is the time for blame game. A lot of things happened and blame game will not help us in any way. Even as a leader of the party, it is wrong for me to join in the blame game,” Dr. Peterside declared.

  • Countdown to 2019 polls: Rivers APC’s harakiri, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    Countdown to 2019 polls: Rivers APC’s harakiri, By Ehichioya Ezomon

    By Ehichioya Ezomon
    The other day, a chieftain of the Rivers chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, boasted that Governor Nyesom Wike would be “the easiest to beat” in the 2019 general election, being that by his alleged actions or inactions, the governor has bolstered the chances of the party at the poll.
    But recent untoward happenings in the chapter may prevent it from fielding candidates for the various elective positions. So, how would the party dislodge Governor Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) if it’s not participating in the franchise?
    The case of the Rivers APC finds expression in some or all of the following maxims: “You can’t build something on nothing.” “Those who’re too clever sometimes overreach themselves.” “Don’t cut your nose to spite your face.” “A child doest know when sleep takes food from his mouth.” “The fly that doesn’t listen to advice will follow the dead body into the grave.”
    Two factions of the party, respectively led by the Transportation Minister and former governor of the state, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi and Senator Magnus Abe, have shunned all counsel for restraint, reconciliation and accommodation, and instead waged a supremacy battle over who controls the Rivers chapter.
    To outwit each other, they deployed all known antics, including dragging their party’s internal affairs to the courts, with the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt ruling that the Rivers APC’s ineligible to field candidates for governorship, and national and state legislative positions in the March 2, 2019 election, and ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to enrol any candidates presented by the party.
    Abe is angling to be governor – an aspiration fiercely opposed by Amaechi, who is backing a business magnate, Pastor Tonye Cole, also endorsed by the national headquarters of the APC, which has sent his name to INEC as the governorship candidate of the party in Rivers.
    Abe, once a soul mate of Amaechi dating back to their days in the Rivers House of Assembly, has been in court, praying to be recognised as the “authentic” candidate. But the court refused, and slammed the doors against both “candidates,” Abe and Cole, who, by the court’s ruling, ought to be very concerned, and sober.
    But watching them on live television interviews, holding on to their individual fine points, gave the impression that they have (or one of them has) not realised the magnitude of the impasse their actions have created for the APC.
    To the uninformed, though, Abe and Cole, and not Amaechi, have a lot to lose in the unwarranted and avoidable stalemate fuelled by ego and “bigmanism” that’s the bane of Nigerian politicians.
    However, recall that the APC, on Amaechi’s watch as the state governor and Director General (same for the 2019 polls) of the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO), lost Rivers in the 2015 elections to the PDP. Thus, the instant court verdict is a severe blow to Amaechi’s hope of reversing the party’s fortunes.
    As things stand, the APC and its Rivers candidates (for all elective positions) are not only running out of options, but also out of time, with only 47 days from today, January 14, to the governorship and state legislative balloting that begins at 8 a.m. on March 2.
    And yet, the political combatants are digging in. They’re talking about appealing and cross-appealing the judgment of the Federal High Court that barred Cole and Abe, and other candidates from contesting in the poll.
    Can the Appeal and Supreme Courts resolve the plethora of cases within the 47 days before the election? An impossibility in the Nigerian slow judicial system that’s virtually defied the reforms in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) of 2015!
    But, perchance the impossible becomes possible, won’t the appellate courts come to the same conclusion of “disobedience of lawful order,” which was found against the Amaechi camp by the lower courts in Port Harcourt?
    The Rivers APC logjam that’s has gone from the lower court to the apex court in Nigeria, and back to the court of first instance, is predicated on the May 2018 ward and local government congresses that the Abe faction alleged its members were excluded.
    Consequently, 23 of the aggrieved members went to court, which granted a restraining order on the Amaechi camp, to maintain the status quo until the determination of the substantive suit.
    Rather than comply with the injunction, the group conducted the state congress that produced the Ojukaye Flag-Amakree-headed state executive council of the party. It’s this disobedience of the lawful order of court that’s become the Achilles heel of the APC in Rivers.
    A High Court and the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, and the Supreme Court have separately ruled that because the Amaechi faction didn’t come to equity with clean hands – having flouted the order of the high court, it would not get the prayers to quash the case(s).
    Besides, the courts held that any action taken therefrom, including the conduct of the party primaries, would be vitiated. Hence, the order that all candidates nominated for the governorship and legislative positions are precluded from the March 2 poll.
    While pursuing all legal options that appear shut against them, a remote alternative the Rivers APC members haven’t genuinely explored is reconciliation, which can turn the tables in their favour.
    In my serialisation of the “APC and countdown to 2019 polls,” I devoted some parts to the issues in the Rivers chapter, and how to resolve them. I also had personal contacts with some of the political combatants.
    So, it’s not a question of appealing the judgment of the court; it’s whether, in the face of the various rulings, the APC Rivers, and its gladiators can embrace peace, such as was demonstrated at the weekend by Senator Buruji Kashamu (PDP, Ogun East), who though listed by INEC as the governorship candidate, chose to respect his party’s choice of Oladipupo Adebutu for the position.
    Racing against time, a few days before INEC publishes the final list of candidates for the election, can the “big men,” Rotimi Amaechi and Magnus Abe, agree to a truce, and cause the withdrawal all matters in the courts, to enable the APC to field candidates for the elections in Rivers? It’s the last and final card, and act, to avoid the inviting immolation!
    * Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
  • 2019: Rivers APC rules out possibility of adopting candidates from other parties

    2019: Rivers APC rules out possibility of adopting candidates from other parties

    The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it was not thinking of adopting a candidate from another political party because it does not envisage losing its case at the Appeal and the Supreme courts.

    Recall that the State APC had filed an appeal against the disqualification of its candidates from the 2019 general elections in the state, a ruling that was recently given by a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.

    State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Mr. Chris Finebone, told our correspondent on Saturday that it was hypothetical to think that the party could lose its matter at both the Appeal and Supreme courts.

    Finebone maintained that the state APC would determine its next line of action by the time it exhausted all the judiciary options available to it.

    He said, “It is too hypothetical for that kind of situation to happen (adopting a candidate of another party if the party loses at the Appeal and Supreme Courts). In such a situation, you will determine what to do when you get there.

    “The ‘ifs’ here are too many and that is why we are saying that it is hypothetical and I can tell you that we don’t envisage that situation (losing at the Appeal and Supreme courts).”

    On whether there are moves by the state APC to assuage the feelings of aggrieved members, Fine explained that the party would first exhaust the numerous issues in court.

    He stated that he was not aware of any peace move between Senator Magnus Abe’s group and the APC in the state.

    “There no situation that I know of to show that there is peace move between us and Abe.

    “These are things that are already in court and we believe that at the stage we are currently, let the issues get exhausted through the court system, especially for some of the issues,” he stressed.

  • Supreme Court reinstates injunction order against Rivers APC congresses

    The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, which vacated a stay order made by a Rivers High Court against the conduct of All Progressives Congress congresses in the state.
     
    Delivering the ruling on the interlocutory appeal, Justice Centus Nweze held that the decision of the Court of Appeal was in error.
     
    Nweze said the lower court was compelled to be guided by the judgments of the apex court, adding that the panel had to follow the law before arriving on its decision.
     
    “This court is the highest and final court of decision in Nigeria. All other courts must abide by decisions from here. Failure to do this amounts to gross misconduct by judges.
     
    “I hereby make an order setting aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt which vacated the stay order made by a State High Court in this matter,’’ he said.
     
    The judge held that the respondent (APC) was in contempt when some of its members invaded the court and disrupted the peace of the court during proceedings.
     
    According to him, it is against known procedure of court for such a party to approach an appellate court to be granted any prayers in a matter for which it is in contempt.
     
    “The action and attitudes displayed by members and agents of the respondent are complete affront on the judiciary and would not be condoned,’’ he said.
     
    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ibrahim Umar and 12 other members of the APC had approached the apex court challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt.
     
    The appellants had initially instituted a case in the Rivers State High Court challenging their exclusion from the party congresses.
     
    They prayed the court for a stay in the conduct of the congresses pending the determination of the substantive suit.
     
    Aggrieved by the action, a faction of the APC approached the appellate court where the stay order was set aside, thereby giving the party the freeway to conduct the congresses.
     
    Meanwhile, Justice Chinwendu Nworgu, on October 11 had delivered judgment on the substantive suit, where the court voided the list of candidates and sacked the state APC executive.
     
    Nwogu said actions taken by the APC during the pendency of the suit had been set aside because they were illegal and unconstitutional.
     
    The judge held that all those who purchased nomination forms for the ward congresses were entitled to contest the ward congresses of May 19, but were unjustly excluded by the party.
     
    Nworgu also set aside all the primaries of the Rivers APC, including the indirect election that produced Mr. Tonye Cole, as the governorship candidate.
     
    NAN recalls that the suit allegedly stemmed from the crisis between the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and Senator Magnus Abe, an acclaimed governorship candidate of the party over the leadership of the party.
     

  • No crisis in our party – Rivers APC

    The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied that the existence of an internal crisis within its fold.

    The party said no member of its leadership has been removed, noting that Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, only made changes “in his own political team”.

    In a statement on Saturday, Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, chairman, Rivers APC, said no member of the party has been discouraged from seeking elective office

    “All members of the All Progressives Congress(APC) leadership in Rivers State are intact. From our ward officers to State party executives, no one has been removed or suspended from office.

    “We are aware that our leader, the leader of the party in the state, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is making some changes in his personal political group, team or caucus in the State. It is his right and prerogative to make any leadership changes within his own political team, group or caucus,” the statement read.

    “Amaechi created the caucus, team or group, appointed its members and leaders and so can make any changes he deems fit with this is personal group, team or caucus. But we must emphasize that these changes by the Honourable Minister of Transportation within his personal political team, group or caucus has absolutely nothing to do with the party leadership structure and does not affect the party leadership structures at all levels in the State.

    “Contrary to fake wild speculations and deliberately misleading insinuations, no member of the party in the State is been stopped or prevented from having ambition or wanting to seek for any elective office. And we must reinstate here that no APC member will be stopped or prevented from seeking any elective office. We know for a fact that as a consummate democrat, our leader, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has not and will not stop, prevent or even attempt to discourage any party member from seeking any political office, elective or otherwise.

    “For the purpose of clarity, we want to emphasize that as a truly democratic party, The APC in Rivers State will ensure a level-playing field for all its aspirants to any elective political office. In accordance with our party rules, regulations and constitution, we shall be fair to all aspirants and will always ensure that the process leading to the emergence of our candidates for all elective political offices is free, fair and credible.

    “Finally, we want to remind and appeal to all APC party members in Rivers State that we are just half way into 2017, and campaigns for the various 2019 elections are yet to commence. Therefore, this is the time to join hands, come together and work in harmony to build a stronger and better party that will defeat our opponents at the polls in 2019.”