Politics
2023: Court Nullifies Rivers APC Primaries
A court has nullified the Rivers APC primaries.
Eko Hot Blog reports that a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital, has nullified the primary elections conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
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Some aggrieved members of the APC had approached the court to nullify the primary election.
Specifically, a claimant, George Orlu and four others, who claimed to have purchased nomination forms, requested the nullification of the APC primaries in Rivers following their alleged exclusion from the process.
On Tuesday, the presiding judge, E.A. Obile, ruled in the favour of the claimants on the grounds that they were unlawfully excluded from the primaries.
The court held that those whose names have been submitted as having been elected from the primaries should not be recognised as validly-elected candidates for the APC in the state.
Reacting to the development, the party described the judgement as a “travesty of justice” because the matter was “entirely an internal party affair.”
In a statement issued by the Rivers APC spokesman, Darlington Nwaujun, the party said nothing will stop it from being on the ballot in 2023.
“Our immediate response is that the Supreme Court has decided on a plethora of cases suggesting that political parties are their own chief executive officers and can regulate their own internal affairs,” the statement said.
“The subject matter for which Justice E. A. Obile granted the relief of plaintiffs to nullify the congresses of our party is entirely an internal party affair, therefore it’s a travesty of justice as far as we are concerned.
“Secondly, the persons who went to court against our party are now members of the Social Democratic Party and therefore meddlesome interlopers in our internal affairs.
“The subject matter for which Justice E.A. Obile granted the relief of plaintiffs to nullify the congresses of our party is entirely an internal party affair, therefore it’s a travesty of justice as far as we are concerned.
“Secondly, the persons who went to court against our party are now members of the Social Democratic Party and therefore meddlesome interlopers in our internal affairs.
“We do believe firmly that the appellate courts shall treat the matter dispassionately and deliver justice in this matter because this is not an action against the primaries of our party, but an attempt at challenging the composition of our delegates list.
“We assure Rivers people that the attempt to rehash the 2019 episode in Rivers State is already dead on arrival.
“Nothing will stop the APC in Rivers State from being on the ballot in 2023.”
The Rivers APC has been embroiled in crisis for many years over the control of the party, leading to the creation of factions.
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Such moves culminated in the party not being on the ballot in the 2019 elections in Rivers.
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