The leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has urged the National Working Committee (NWC) to comply with the court order reinstating the Chief Emeka Beke-led executive in the state.
Darlington Nwauju, the State APC Publicity Secretary, conveyed this advice in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Friday.
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Earlier, Justice Sika Aprioku of the Rivers State High Court had invalidated the Caretaker Committee led by Chief Tony Okocha, ruling that while the NWC has the authority to dissolve an elected committee, it should not do so while its tenure is ongoing.
The court also barred the Okocha-led committee from interfering with the Beke-led leadership until the completion of their four-year term.
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In response, Okocha rejected the ruling and announced plans to appeal the decision in a news briefing in Port Harcourt.
On Thursday, the APC NWC in Abuja announced that it would continue to recognize the Okocha-led Caretaker Committee as the legitimate leadership of the party in the state.
Nwauju criticized the NWC’s stance, describing it as a national embarrassment and a source of division within the party in Rivers State.
He stated, “We are aware of Suit No. PHC/CS/925/2023 which was handled by Justice D.S. Kio of the Rivers State High Court and the decision of that Court (which was a vacation court) to ‘suspend’ two officers of our party via an Ex-parte Order and that this has since elapsed with the effluxion of time (14 days), unless, we are now saying that an Ex-parte Order can be mummified like the Egyptian Pharaohs and preserved as part of our own political tourist attraction!
“The tenure of the Elected Executives of the party in the state has been preserved by the Order of court, therefore, contemplating fresh Congresses for the party in Rivers State will not only be an act of illegality but shall amount to sheer waste of resources. ”
Continuing, he added, “We condemn this obvious national embarrassment on our party and plead with members of our NWC to guide themselves properly by getting a very neutral interpretation of and digesting the judgment of August 12 2024, as this is the only existing judgment anywhere in Nigeria as touching elected Executives of APC in Rivers State.
“We have heard rumours of plans to slam suspensions on members of the State Executive Committee, while we also hear that some desperate individuals are making attempts to manufacture an abracadabra judgment from an Abuja High Court against the State Executives and backdating same, but we wait to see.
“We close by appealing to the NWC to stop distracting our beloved President with ill-timed political innuendos/permutations which do not add a single grain of value to the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
