A Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has dismissed the seven-member Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC in the state, led by Tony Okocha, which was appointed by the National Working Committee of the APC.
Justice Sika Aprioku, in a ruling on Monday, in a suit filed by Sam Sam Etetegwung, Banarth Ezemoye, Ezekiel Ubom, and others on behalf of the democratically elected APC executive in the state, reinstated the executive led by Emeka Beke as the legitimate leadership of the party in Rivers State.
The court issued a perpetual injunction against the Okocha-led caretaker committee, prohibiting them from interfering with the Beke-led executive until the end of their four-year term.
Additionally, the court restrained the APC’s national leadership from recognizing the Okocha-led committee and directed them to acknowledge the Beke-led executive as the party’s authentic leadership until their term expires.
The court also criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for supporting the dissolution of the democratically elected APC executives and warned that leaders of political parties must adhere to their own constitutions and avoid acting recklessly.
Justice Aprioku found that the APC National Working Committee failed to justify their actions, which were deemed in violation of both the party’s and Nigeria’s constitutions.
As a result, the court awarded N300,000 in costs in favour of the APC executive led by Beke.
The judge dismissed preliminary objections raised by the defendants regarding the justification and the application for joinder by additional parties.
Justice Aprioku ruled that the appointment of the seven-member caretaker committee led by Chief Tony Okocha was null and void, with no legal standing, asserting that the committee members had no legal existence.
Meanwhile the APC Caretaker Committee Chairman in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha, has vowed to challenge a state high court judgment sacking him and others from further parading as executives of the APC in the state, before reinstating the Emeka Beke-led executives.
Responding to the court verdict, Chief Okocha, accused the trial judge of bias, added that the presiding judge ought to have recused himself from the matter after a petition was raised against him questioning his impartiality, but insisted continuing in the matter to accomplish a hatchet job against the APC.
Okocha, who made the accusations in Port Harcourt on Monday, during a press conference, noted that the decision of the court didn’t come as a surprise for he had long predicted it.
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