Court nullifies Rivers APC primaries, de-recognises all candidates

.

By Egufe Yafugborhi

PORT HARCOURT – AHEAD of the 2023 elections, a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has nullified all primary elections conducted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State over the unlawful exclusion of some party members as delegates to the primaries.

Justice E A Obile made the declaration in a judgement he delivered Tuesday over a case instituted by one George Orlu and four others as Plaintiffs against Rivers APC, requesting nullification of the primaries of APC in Rivers for alleged exclusion in the process.

The judge agreed with the Plaintiffs that they were wrongly excluded in the elections to participate in the party primaries, ruling the primaries nullified and all those elected consequently not recognized as candidates for the coming elections.

Dissatisfied with the judgement, the Spokesman to Rivers APC, Darlington Nwauju, said, “We believe the appellate court shall treat the matter dispassionately and deliver justice 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 River people that the attempt to rehash the 2019 episode in Rivers is already dead on arrival. Nothing will stop APC Rivers from being on the ballot in 2023.

“Supreme court has decided on a plethora of cases affirming that political parties are their own operating authorities and can regulate own internal affairs.

“The subject matter for which Justice Obile granted reliefs of the Plaintiffs is entire our internal affairs, therefore it is a travesty of justice far as we are concerned.”