Court of Appeal has restored sanity in our party, Rivers APC faction says

The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has declared that the Appeal Court has restored sanity to the party after its ruling on Tuesday that sacked Igo Aguma as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party in the state.

This was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Isaac Ogbobula-led faction of the party who also expressed lack of confidence in the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to conduct credible local government elections.

According to Ogbobula, the judgment of the Appeal Court would enable the party work together for a common purpose and thus appealed to all true members of the party to support the rebuilding of APC in Rivers as it could no longer afford to keep destroying itself.

Ogbobula said the judgement sends a signal to the lower courts to stop meddling into internal affairs of a political party and also added that the APC was prepared to play the opposition.

He said; “We commend the Justices of the Court of Appeal for the very erudite judgment delivered yesterday, particularly for restoring sanity and more significantly, sending a clear message to lower courts to desist from unnecessarily meddling in the internal affairs of political parties and stop usurping the constitutionally vested powers and functions of party organs.”

Ogbobula urged all members of the Party to come together, join hands in rebuilding the party and focus on achieving a common goal, adding that the APC in Rivers is now ready to give the state government a fair and formidable opposition, particularly in fighting against bad policies.

“We call on all genuine members of the APC in Rivers State to join hands with us in moving the Party forward. We cannot afford to be distracted anymore by comedians and mercantile politicians conniving with the Rivers State Government towards removing attention from the huge misgovernance taking place in the state.

Read also: Rivers APC factional leader vows to challenge dissmissal at Supreme Court

“We must start to seriously interrogate the policies, programmes and activities of the State Governor and invariably the application of state resources. Rivers people must be made to consciously resist a situation where one man runs the show in the state; in charge of supplies, contracts, projects etc., while others wallow in penury and poverty.

“It is unacceptable that more than six years as Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike cannot point to 10 young men of Rivers origin who have been economically empowered to compete in the business world.

“It is most unfortunate that rather than the governor priding himself in terms of human capital development, he is instead always boasting of how he will cripple the All Progressives Congress in the state, and you can imagine the humongous funds he pushes in that direction to massage his ego,” Ogbobula concluded.

But crisis in the Rivers State APC may not be over yet, as a faction Les by Igo Aguma has said it would challenge the ruling of the Appeal Court at the Supreme Court.

Recting to the ruling in a statement by a former House of Assembly members, Golden Chioma, Aguma said “We have been briefed on the Court of Appeal judgement today in Abuja.

“All party faithful in Rivers State should remain calm and resolute as we have already instructed our lawyers to appeal the judgements at the Supreme Court while we continue with our preparations for the 2021 local government election in Rivers state”.

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