A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has fixed October 23 to entertain the suit stopping the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State from conducting wards, local government and state Congresses.
The party’s congresses were scheduled to start September but Justice A. L. Nyoredee of Rivers State High court, ruling in a summons filed by Umar and others, ordered the party to suspend the congresses, pending the determination of the suit filed by the claimants.
Umar and others approached the High court seeking to compel the party to recognize the payment they made for nomination forms to participate in the congresses in view of the Rivers State High Court judgment delivered in suit No. BHC/78/2018: Ibrahim Umar & 22 others that nullified the party’s congresses in 2018, as they were deprived of participating in the congresses after due payment for nomination forms.
But the party in an affidavit in support of a motion of notice it filed which was endorsed by Ubagha Abel Dike, an administrative officer at its national secretariat, urged the high presided by Justice A. L. Nyoredee, to dismiss and strike out the summons filed by Umar and 22 others for failure to disclose a cause of action or any reasonable cause action in the suit.
The party which was represented by Chimenim Jerome informed the court that based on its constitution, Umar and others do not have the capacity to institute and maintain their suit as they are not fully registered and are not up to date financially based on its financial records of the 319 wards in Rivers state.
“The claimants/respondents are neither members of specific, known or identified wards of the defendant/applicant in Rivers State nor are they fully registered and up-to-date financial members of the defendant/applicant from different 319 wards of Rivers State delineated by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),” the affidavit read.
The party begged the court to strike out the suit in the interest of justice as the congresses it conducted in 2018 that Umar and others made reference to had become spent as the State High Court had nullified it, adding that the same judgment of the high court was upheld by both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
The party explained that the recently proposed congresses were not related to the 2018 ward congresses, LGA or State congresses, which were declared null and void by the court.
“The nomination forms and payment of fees made for the concluded 2018 congresses that were nullified by the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State were only for the May 2018 ward congresses. They have become spent having been nullified by the judgment of the High Court and cannot be used for the current exercise of 2019,”
It added that High Court judgment in suit No. BHC/78/2018 does not in any way stop it from conducting fresh Ward, LGA and State congresses.
Justice A.L Nyoredee, after listening to the counsel of both the claimants and the defendant, said the matter would be referred to the Chief Justice of Rivers State as the tenure of the vacation court he presided over, expired yesterday.
Justice A.L Nyoredee urged both parties to wait for further directives from the state Chief Judge who has to re-assign the matter when the court resumes from vacation.
