The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed the High Court Judgment nullifying the appointment of a seven-member caretaker committee to run the Benue state chapter of the party.
The Rivers APC in a statement by its spokesman, Darlington Nwauju hailed the court’s decision and observed that the judgement was completely in sync with the time-tested principle of fair hearing espoused in the party constitution and justified the August 12 2024 judgement entered by a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt in favour of elected executives of the APC in Rivers State.
It regretted that despite the judgment the Hon Justice Sika Aprioku in Suit No PHC/3735/CS/2023 (Chief Barnex Enyi & 4 Others Vs APC & 7 Otrs) and Suit No PHC/3592/CS/2023 (Sam Sam Etetegwung & Otrs Vs H.E Abdullahi Ganduje & 6 Otrs) which expressly voided the inauguration of a seven-member caretaker committee for Rivers State APC the judgement order has been outrightly disobeyed by the NWC of the APC.
The statement read in part; “Without any atom of ambiguity, our party constitution (as amended March 2022), made replacement of validly elected executives of the party at any level, the sole right of the NEC and even at that, such extreme measures cannot be passed as decrees against other organs of the party.
“The rather unfortunate posture of arrogance and disrespect for a valid order of court as manifestly displayed by the NWC under His Excellency Ganduje since November 22 2023, via a press statement issued by Felix Morka Esq., has left Rivers APC in deeper crises than it had before that date. It is akin to replacing malaria sickness with cancer while pushing a false and escapist ‘all is well’ rhetoric to justify a rather undignifying stance.
“This NWC under His Excellency Abdullahi Ganduje has forced down our throats by the singular illegal decision of November 22 2023, another round of endless litigations despite the genuine efforts made by the Elected Executives of the party in Rivers State, to draw the attention of the NWC to the fact that no paragraph of our party constitution gives (NWC) powers to dissolve any organ of the party.
“We specifically drew attention to the incontestable fact that the (NWC) violated Article 21 of our Constitution which prescribes steps that should be taken if a cogent need arises for disciplinary measures to be taken against any member of our party.”
The party added that ignoring the 21-day moratorium to seek peace and pull the party in Rivers State to the path of unity, the NWC under Ganduje chose not to explore that window of opportunity but rather preferred that the party remained disunited.
“We hope that today’s judgement coming from Benue will serve as an eye-opener to the fact that our party cannot be run like a military garrison. This judgement again calls for thorough soul searching for the NWC to refrain from the path of infamy but embrace fairness to all, constitutionality and natural justice.
“Two courts in Nigeria have spoken and it is left for the NWC under Abdullahi Ganduje to respect lawful orders of courts and allow duly elected executives of the party to exercise their constitutional mandates.
“For the sake of emphasis, we invite Nigerians to look at Article 13.3(B) and Articles 21.1, 21.2, 21.3, and 21.4, and do a community reading of these provisions of our party Constitution. We dare say that even the NEC of the party which holds inherent powers to dissolve all other organs of the party except the Advisory Council, will according to our constitution, have to do so only in a compelling situation guided by the steps provided in Article 21 of the same Constitution.
“Therefore, even to the man on the street, the NWC overreached its powers as the Courts in Benue and Rivers have rightly affirmed by completely abandoning the provisions of our Constitution to set up caretaker committees in these states.
“Today, another High Court has pointed Ganduje’s NWC to the path of rule of law and the very important ingredient of fair hearing necessary for democratic decision making.”
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