Court nullifies all APC primaries in Rivers State
A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has nullified all the primaries conducted by the ruling All Progressive Congress in the state.
The primaries were nullified over the unlawful exclusion of some members of the party as delegates to the primaries.
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The court gave the ruling on Monday, October 24, 2022, following a suit brought before it by some aggrieved members of the party.
Some aggrieved members, who allegedly purchased nomination forms were said to have approached the court requesting that the primaries be nullified.
The court ruled in favour of the aggrieved members saying they were unlawfully excluded from the primaries.
Ruling on the matter, Justice E.A. Obile held that the plaintiffs were wrongly excluded in the process to participate in the party primaries.
The Judge, therefore, ruled that all those elected from the primary elections stand nullified and should not be recognised as candidates.
However, in a swift reaction, the APC described the judgement as a travesty of justice.
The party in a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, said any attempt to exclude the party from the ballot in 2023 like what happened in 2019 would fail.
The statement reads: “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 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.
The party said it cannot be stopped from being on the ballot in 2023.
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