The Rivers chapter of All Progressives Congress, APC, has reacted to the nullification of primaries that produced it governorship, State and National Assembly candidates by a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
The Court presided over by Justice E.A. Obile on Tuesday nullified all the primary elections conducted by the APC in Rivers State for selection of candidates of the party for 2023 election.
The Court based its judgement on unlawful exclusion of some members of the party as delegates to the primaries.
The judgement Justice Obile is sequel to a case filed against the APC by one George Orlu and four others seeking the nullification of the primaries.
The applicants had claimed that they were excluded from the primaries after purchasing nomination forms.
The Court acceded to their request and ruled that election the primary are nullified and should not be recognized as candidates.
However, the APC in Rivers described the ruling as a travesty of justice.
APC added based on a Supreme Court judgment on many similar cases, which suggest that political parties are their own Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and can regulate on their own affairs, it would challenge the judgment at the Appeal Court.
The party, through its publicity secretary, Darlington Nwauju said; “The subject matter for which Justice E.A. Obile granted the relief of the 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”.
The APC added that the “persons who went to court against our party are now members of the Social Democratic Party, SDP and therefore meddlesome interlopers in our internal affairs”.
“We do believe firmly that the appellate court shall treat the matter dispassionately and deliver justice in this matter because this is not an action against our party but an attempt at challenging the composition of our delegate 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”.
