The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has expressed its unwavering support for the Tony Okocha-led Caretaker Committee in Rivers State.
This endorsement was made public on Thursday, just three days after the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt nullified the sacking of the Emeka Beke-led executive of the APC in the state.
On Monday, Justice Sika Aprioku presided over the court ruling that declared the dissolution of the Beke-led executive by the APC’s NWC as unlawful.
The court determined that the NWC lacked the authority to dissolve an elected state executive and appoint a caretaker committee while the tenure of the elected officials was still active.
Consequently, the judge barred Okocha and the members of the Caretaker Committee from continuing to present themselves as the legitimate executives of the APC in Rivers State.
Despite this ruling, Deputy National Secretary of the APC, Festus Fuanter, addressed journalists after the NWC meeting on Thursday, insisting that the judgment of the Rivers State High Court is not binding on the party.
He stated, “We want to categorically state and inform the public that the position of the party in the judgment delivered by the Rivers High Court per. Justice S. Aprioko in Suit No: PHC 3592 CS. 2023 wherein the court reinstated the dissolved State Executive Committee that it is not binding on the APC.”
Further explained that the case in question involved the national chairman and secretary of the party, not the APC as a whole.
According to him, “The claimant in the said case sued the national chairman and secretary of our great party and not the APC itself, and you cannot sue an agent of a disclosed principal. That a court judgment/ruling/order is not binding on a person or organization that is not a party to the suit.”
Furthermore, he emphasized that there is an existing and valid court judgment against Emeka Beke and Iheanyichukwu Azubuike, the former Rivers State APC chairman and legal adviser, which led to their removal from office.
Fuanter noted, “It is pertinent to state here that the said judgment has been appealed against by Chief Emeka Beke and it is pending before the Court of Appeal.
“Given the above, the party still recognizes the erstwhile Caretaker Committee set up to oversee the affairs of the party in the state.”
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