A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has hailed the court judgment nullifying the party’s congresses. Eze went further to mock the National Chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje and Tony Okocha, describing them as the real enemies of democracy.
He called on Okocha, who was re-elected the party’s Chairman at the congress, to stay off the concerns of the Rivers APC, describing him a snooping rabbit and saboteur. According to Eze, Okocha may have been contracted by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike to further decimate the party and turn it into an arm of his political estates to the detriment of democracy and contrary to the spirit of partisan politics.
He said that the likes of Ganduje, Okocha and some others who he described as antidemocratic forces pervading the country’s political landscape, are the real enemies of Nigeria’s democracy, who must be stopped now and disgraced out of power.
A judgment delivered by Justice Godswill Obomanu, a Rivers State High sitting in Port-Harcourt had nullified the Local Government and State Congresses organized by the Okocha-led faction of the APC in Rivers State.
Eze said it was a victory for democracy and a huge setback for marauding undemocratic forces in the State, allegedly led by Wike. The purported Congresses according to Eze, were conducted in bad faith to replace the Chief Emeka Beke-led State Executive Committee of the Rivers APC whose tenure was still running and yet to be terminated by effluxion of time. Justice Obomanu’s judgment followed a contempt of court suit filed by the Beke-led faction.
The Rivers APC through its Chairman, Beke, had filed contempt of court proceeding following which Justice Godswill Obomanu, after listening to the submissions, nullified the congresses and fined the defendants N10,000,000 for acting in contempt of a competent order of court.
Nevertheless, the Okocha-led APC went ahead to conduct the congresses at the LG and State levels. The new executives from the congresses were also inaugurated on December 14, by Ganduje.
However, in a judgment delivered on December 20, Justice Obomanu nullified the congresses, citing contempt of court. Eze, a former Spokesperson of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and a close ally of a former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, said the judgment has shamed the likes of Ganduje, Okocha and other undemocratic hirelings, for attempting to foist none members on the Rivers APC.
“The pronouncement of the court was a watershed and landmark judgment, which has also enriched the country’s jurisprudence, further reaffirming the court as the bastion of justice for the common man,” Eze said.
“The issue at stake had far-reaching implications on the existence of APC and internal party politics in Rivers State and Nigeria in general, as some treacherous, irrational persons and money mongers wanted to hijack the APC structure in the State to advance their selfish interests.
“With the judgment, the judiciary has once again proven that it is not all the time that justice must be compromised by money bags or seen to be purchased by the highest bidder.
“The decision of the High Court has in deed upheld the fundamental rights of the authentic APC members in Rivers State under the leadership of Emeka Beke, while putting an end to the crass quest for power and mediocrity being championed by Wike and his new errand motorboy, Tony Okocha.
“This judgment is a significant victory for democrats and APC loyalists alike, who believe in the supremacy of internal democracy over despotic moves by selfish and tyrannical politicians, who want to control an entire party structure for personal aggrandizement.
