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By Godwin Chukwumaechi, Port Harcourt
With only hours to the local council elections scheduled to hold in Rivers State on Saturday, two factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state have disagreed sharply over whether the polls should go on or not.
While the faction led by Chief Tony Okocha, and recognized by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, does not want the elections to hold because of alleged judgments against the exercise, the Chief Emeka Beke-led faction has indicated its support for the conduct of the council elections.
On Tuesday, the Beke faction said it was in total support of the conduct of the Local Government elections on the 5th of October, 2024, while on Wednesday, the Okocha-led faction reiterated its opposition to the election.
The Beke-led faction also stated that it would participate in the elections, and had, indeed, submitted the names of its candidates for the various positions.
It conveyed its position through a letter to the chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), INEC Headquarters, Abuja,
The letter titled “Re: Position of the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) on the forthcoming Local Government Election in Rivers State Vis-a-vis the Judgement in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/987/2024.”
Signed by chairman, APC Rivers State, Chief Emeka Beke, and state secretary, APC Rivers State, Hon. Sam Sam Etetegwung, in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, the letter recalled “an attempt by some members of the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to displace the duly elected State Executive Committee of the party in Rivers State by purporting to have dissolved the Executive Committee and replaced same with a caretaker committee led by one Chief Tony Okocha.
“We, however, hereby notify you that Chief Tony Okocha, who filed that suit purportedly as ‘chairman, Caretaker Committee’ of the All Progressives Congress, Rivers State Chapter, is an impostor and totally unknown to the Rivers Chapter of the All Progressives Congress.
“He is neither the chairman nor is he a leader in any capacity whatsoever. He (Chief Tony Okocha) does not also have the authority of the leadership of the party in Rivers State as constituted under Chief Emeka Beke, to file or maintain the said suit on its behalf.
“We are equally aware that on the 4th day of September, 2024, the High Court of Rivers State per Hon Justice I. P. C. Igwe in Suit No. PHC/2696/CS/2024 between Action Peoples Party (APP) and Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission has given a judgement compelling the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to proceed with the local government election scheduled for 5th October, 2024 or any other date of its choice.
That judgement, being first-in-time to the latter judgement in FHC /ABJ/CS/987/2024, takes precedence. As we all know, when two equities are equal, the first in time prevails.
“Under the Constitution of the All Progressives Congress, all issues relating to the participation in the local government elections are within the authority of the State Executive Committee, and so, it is the Executive Committee as led by himself (Chief Emeka Beke) that determines whether and how the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress is to participate in the forthcoming local government elections in Rivers State.
“What matters is that the Supreme Court of Nigeria had already ordered the Government of Rivers State to conduct Local Government Elections in Rivers State within three months of judgement, hence the Federal High Court cannot lawfully overrule the Supreme Court by stopping the holding of the said election,” the statement added.
According to the statement, “It is on the above premise, that we write to notify you and your commission (INEC) that the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress totally supports the holding of the Local Government elections in Rivers State on the 5th of October, 2024. The Party is participating in the elections, and have indeed, submitted the names of its candidates for the various positions.”
The statement further reiterated that the judgement in Suit No. PHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024 does not represent the interest of the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, and accordingly distanced itself from the suit and judgment.
However, in a press conference held on Wednesday at its Port Harcourt-Aba Road office, the faction of the party led by Tony Okocha reiterated its call that the local government elections should not hold, also citing court judgments to support its position.
He said; “APC is a law abiding party and we will remain within the armbits of the law. We are only saying that we should not encourage the flagrant attempt of one man to throw the party into the dustbin that; everything humanly possible to keep the state in sync with the laws of land, those are the things we would do.
He accused Gov Fubara of being desperate, saying ” he has lost touch with his party, the PDP. If you listen to the press conference of the PDP few days back, the PDP said that the APC is in court and if the judgement is adverse to an election that it would also not support holding an election under a flawed arrangement. An election that the two major political parties are not participating and we are told that the governor has procured the Action Peoples Party, APP.
“We are watching Rivers State drift into a state of lawlessness because of flagrant impunities of one man who is self-seeking.
“I’m worried and the reason I’m worried is that in reading through philosophers of note, you would hear one of them saying that in a state of anarchy, it becomes illegal to be law abiding. The governor of Rivers State has ruled and continued to rule this state with impunities and we would not stand akimbo and watch him drift this state to abysmal oblivion by the reason of trying to push across his personal idiosyncrasies.
“We are a party, APC is a party in government at the centre and we need to let our party, the president, members of the National Assembly know our plight. Should we submit to an attempt to obliterate APC in Rivers State? Should we concede to the deliberate attempt by one man to annihilate APC in Rivers State? The answer will be no.
“The latest we are told was the one they procured from one Justice I.P.C Igwe who introduced elements, legal entities into a judgement when those legal entities were not part of the matter itself. A judge asking police, DSS, INEC to do a thing. A state high court giving orders to a federal agency. I’m told that the state high courts are a distant 7th position in the hierarchy of courts. The police is not part of your matter, the DSS are not part but you made a law to compel them and these are federal agencies. You are making those laws via state high courts.
“The reason about it is that they want to buggle the entire scenario. That’s not our law. I’m saying again that we are drifting to a state of lawlessness in Rivers State and we members of the APC, we have exhausted all the legal means, we have seen that the governor is at the verge of adopting a self-help approach at the chagrin of all of us in the state. You can see the level of desperation.
“We are here as a party and as representatives of the party in the state, we will not take this impunity and we draw the attention of the agencies responsible for this,” he said.
Okocha also referred to some recent Federal High Court judgment including that of Justice Peter Lifu, to demand under which law is this local government election was going to hold? “What is the appropriation? Who appropriated the funds for local government elections to hold.
“So you see illegalities, impunities and seeing the level of desperation of the governor since the judgement of the Federal High Court got to him, drive to RSIEC office to tell them to continue to hold election.
“We cannot be comfortable to contest an election where the governor himself is the chairman of an agency of government that’s responsible for the same election”, he declared.
