Senator Magnus Ngei Abe, a former Senator representing Rivers South-East senatorial district in the national assembly, has described the alleged suspension of the chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) Rt. Hon. Igochukwu Aguma, by a faction of the statutory members of the party’s State Executive Committee (SEC), as inconsequential and a clear breach of a valid court judgement.
Abe, a board member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said even if the judgement of the High Court that empowered Aguma to act as the APC Caretaker Chairman in the state is set aside, the action of the SEC members was already in defiance of a subsisting court judgement, considering the time they took the action.
Abe, in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson said, Senator Andrew Uchendu, who presided over the meeting where Aguma was allegedly suspended, should have collected the signatures of SEC members and served a notice on Hon. Aguma with a demand to summon a meeting.
“There are constitutional provisions in our party constitution to summon an extraordinary meeting of the state executive committee of our party the APC. Hon. Igo Aguma called a meeting of the SEC by virtue of an order of a court which was published.
“Every member was invited. I attended that meeting, a quorum was formed and decisions were reached. So SEC met and took certain decisions including asking the acting Chairman to draw a blueprint on the way forward and present to SEC at a later date.
“As far as the law is concerned, the state executive committee of the APC can only meet if summoned by the chairman or a proper procedure is used by members to override the chairman.
“We should follow the example of the President and obey our courts. Igo Aguma remains the Chairman of APC in the state.
“Leaders should be careful not to lead the party on another merry go round,” Abe maintained.
