The Emeka Beke-led faction of the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress APC, has frowned at the response of the National Working Committee NWC of the party over the sacking of the Caretaker Committee of the party it instituted in the state.
The APC NWC on Thursday evening afternoon declared that the Chief Tony Okocha-led Caretaker Committee of the party in Rivers state, remained the only recognized administrative body of the party in the state.
The declaration which was made by Barr. Festus Fuanter, Deputy National Secretary for the party, was in total disregard to the Monday, August 12, ruling of a Rivers State High Court sacking the Okocha-led CTC and reinstating the elected State Executive Committee led by Emeka Beke.
The NWC members in an interview with journalists claimed Emeka Beke had been sacked by another court adding that Beke had later filed an appeal, adding that it was sad that he could not wait for the outcome of his own appeal but instead decided to embark on an abuse of court processes.
Fuanter said; “We want to categorically state and inform the public that the position of the Party, All Progressives Congress in the judgment delivered by the Rivers High Court per. Justice Sika Aprioko in Suit No: PHC 3592 CS. 2023 wherein the Court reinstated the dissolved State Executive Committee that it is not binding on the party. The claimant in the said case sued the National Chairman and Secretary of our great party and not the party itself and you cannot sue an agent of a disclosed principal. That a Court Judgment/Ruling/Order is not binding on a person or organization that is not a party to the suit.
“In suit no: PHC/3592/CS/2023 between Sam Sam Etetegwung Vs. H.E. Abdullahi Ganduje & 7 Ors wherein the Court reinstated the Rivers State Executive Committee earlier dissolved by APC, is not binding on APC because it was not joined as a party in the suit.
“Secondly, there is a valid and subsisting Court Judgment against Chief Emeka Beke & Iheanyichukwu Azubuike (former Rivers State APC Chairman and Legal Adviser) respectively wherein they were removed from office. The said case suit No. PHC/925/CS/2023 Omiete Efrebo & 9 Ors. Vs. Chief Emeka Beke & 2 ors., were removed from office. It is pertinent to state here that the said judgment has been appealed against by Chief Emeka Beke and it is pending before the Court of Appeal.
“In view of the above, the Party still recognizes the erstwhile Caretaker Committee set up to oversee the affairs of the Party in the State”.
He said as far as the NWC is concerned, what happened was an abuse of court processes, adding that the APC would however seek legal remedy against the judgment which reinstated Beke.
Responding to the position of the NWC, Darlington Nwauju, the Publicity Secretary of the Beke-faction of the APC said the action of the NWC casts Nigeria as a country operating outside the rule of law even though the APC is a party and Government that resorts to the courts of the land from time to time.
He statement reads in part; “We have seen, heard, and read the response of the National Working Committee of our great party, the party under H.E Alhaji Umar Ganduje, over Monday’s court judgment reinstating and reinforcing the pendancy of tenure of the Executives elected on the 16th day of October 2021 and cascading to other layers below, in Rivers State.
“Without resorting to throwing punches or unreasonable diatribes, our very first response is that of utter consternation as to how a serious organ of the ruling party could fall for the calamitous mistake of scorning at a valid decision of Court in a constitutional democracy.
“The danger signal is incalculable and has the potency to scare away investors as no business or investment can thrive in an atmosphere bereft of the rule of law.
“We are aware that court bailiffs took pains to serve on the National Secretariat of our party, this decision of Court”.
Nwauju stressed; “For the avoidance of doubts, and without attempting to rehash the twelve (12) restraining and consequential orders of Court, no individual or group of individuals has the right under the law to act, serve or represent the APC Rivers State chapter without the express approval of the validly Elected Executives of the party under Emeka Beke as doing so will lead to an affront on the court and we shall have no other option than approaching the Court to invoke its powers under law.
“We finally warn that we shall not by any means fall for the fake news peddled before the cameras on the afternoon of Thursday 15th August 2024 by Mr Festus Fuanter (Assistant National Secretary of the APC) claiming that validly elected Executives of the APC in Rivers State were long dissolved by a Court of law. This suggestion is embarrassingly untrue and most unfortunate as this speaks volumes of the capacity of this individual to maintain institutional memory”.
He expressed concern that the activities of the current NWC were re constituting a great cog in the wheel of progress for our great party and communicate a rather taciturn posture to party cohesion, while debasing pluralism of thoughts and encouraging dissent.
He went on; “With the greatest respect, references made by Mr Fuanter on behalf of the NWC alluding to the existence of a mystery suit which ‘sacked’ all elected APC Executives in Rivers State and an appeal lodged at the Court of Appeal by the State Chairman challenging same is grossly misleading and should have been produced in court as part of evidence to justify the illegal decision made on November 22 2023.
“Nigerians are invited to peruse the entire forty-eight (48) page judgment delivered by Justice S.H. Aprioku in Suit No. PHC/CS/3592/2023. For the sake of emphasis, the suit in question was instituted on behalf of aggrieved members of the State Executive Committee by the Secretary of the Rivers State chapter of the APC and not the Chairman.
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!
It is quite amazing that in the past few days, Nigerians have been freely served with dishes full of inconsistent stories by the major beneficiary of the illegality foisted on the party in Rivers State, one Tony Okocha, who in one breath on national television, referred to the ruling delivered by Honourable Justice S.H. Aprioku as “procured” judgment but in another breath “wags his tail” over the rulings delivered by Justice D.S. Kio of the Rivers State High Court (April 2023) and P.O. Lifu of the FHC Abuja (August 2024); both judges entertained matters sitting as vacation judges and the ousted illegal Caretaker Committee Chairman has not come out to tell Nigerians why these judges sat as vacation judges and delivered rulings which serves his desperate political agenda of balkanizing the APC in Rivers State and poisoning it with the PDAPC ‘cancerous’ virus”.
The APC Spokesman condemned what he described as “obvious national embarrassment on our party” and pleaded with members of the NWC to guide themselves properly by getting 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.
“Let it be known that the continuous attempt to oxygenate a contraption in the name of a Caretaker Committee in Rivers State is a slap on the face of the judiciary. As it is today, 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.
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”, Nwauju pleaded.
