Rivers APC slams NWC for recognising factional chairman

The leadership of the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State has advised the National Working Committee not to disobey the court order that reinstated Chief Emeka Beke-led executive in the state.

The state APC Publicity Secretary, Darlington Nwauju, gave the advice in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Friday.

Recall that a Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice Sika Aprioku had sacked the Caretaker Committee of the APC in the state led by Chief Tony Okocha, saying the party’s National Working Committee had the power to dissomve an elected while its tenure was still running.

Justice Aprioku also restrained the Okocha-led CTC from distracting the Beke state APC leadership pending the expiration of their four years tenure.

Okocha, in his reaction during a news briefing in Port Harcourt, rejected the ruling, saying the party would head to the Appeal Court to reclaim its mandate.

Also, the APC NWC on Thursday in Abuja, said it would continue to recognise the Okocha-led CTC as the party’s authentic leadership in the state.

But Nwauju in the statement slammed the NWC, saying its action was a national embarrassment by causing disunity within the party’s fold in the state.

He stated, “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.”

Continuing, he said, “We condemn this obvious national embarrassment to our party and plead with members of our NWC to guide themselves properly by getting very neutral interpretation and digesting the judgment of August 12 2024, as this is the only judgment anywhere in Nigeria 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.

“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.”