3 months ago
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The Caretaker Committee (CTC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State led by Tony Okocha has rejected the judgment of the Rivers State High Court, which was delivered, yesterday, by Justice Sika Aprioku, sacking the seven-man committee.
The Publicity Secretary of the committee, Chibike Ikenga, disclosed that his group has instructed its legal team to appeal the case.
The Okocha-led committee was first inaugurated by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC in November 2023, which had sacked the Emeka Bekee-led APC loyal to the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.
Six months after the expiration of the Okocha-led committee’s tenure, the NWC, in June 2024, again extended the tenure of the party’s camp loyal to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, by six months.
But the trial court, headed by Justice Aprioku, in a suit filed by Sam Etetegwung, Banarth Ezemoye and others, on behalf of the Bekee-led executive of APC, held that the NWC of APC failed to prove that their actions violated the Constitution of the party, as well as Nigeria’s Constitution.
The court insisted that they relied on hearsay of anti-party activities, which was not demonstrated by the defendants in the suit.
The judge dismissed preliminary objections by the defendants on the issue of justification and application for joinder by a set of individuals, who had earlier sought to join in the suit.
He further held that the national leadership of APC disobeys their own Constitution by not giving fair hearings to elected party executives, awarding N300,000 as cost in favour of Bekee.
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