A legal practitioner in Rivers State, Barrister Solomon Ebeku has described as unfortunate, the statement credited to the Factional chairman of Rivers State chapter of the All Progressive Congress, Mr Ojukaye Flagg- Amachree.
Amachree, a loyalist of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, described the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on the Rivers state APC Crisis as “A mere academic exercise that means nothing”
The Supreme Court had on October 22, set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal staying further execution of the Order of Interlucotory Injunction restraining APC from conducting further congresses in Rivers State.
The party has been in court over the May congresses that threw up the Ojukaye Flag-Amachree led party executive.
A panel of five justices of the court held, in a judgment, that the APC acted in “condemnable, egregious and preposterous” manner by proceeding to conduct its ward, local government and state congresses of May 19, 20 and 21, 2018, respectively, in Rivers State, in disregard of a pending court order restraining it from so acting.
The panel headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) said the Appeal Court, Port-Harcourt engaged “a sacrilegious exercise of discretion” by ignoring the doctrine of stare decisis in its June 21, 2018 judgment, given in favour of the APC, despite the party’s decision to conduct its congresses in Rivers State in breach of subsisting orders of the High Court of the state.
The judgment was on an appeal by 23 APC members, including Ibrahim Umar, David Ndah, Prince Morris, Kudem Bale, and Otokim Jack, who were aggrieved by the outcome of APC’s congresses.
Justice Centus Nweze, who read the lead judgment, upheld the appeal and proceeded to set aside the June 21, 2018 order of the Court of Appeal, with which it stayed the execution of the May 11 and May 30 orders made by the High Court of Rivers State stopping the conduct of the congresses.
However, Barr Ebeku said it is most unfortunate that political leaders who have benefited from the powers and processes of the courts are now at the forefront of the current attacks on the Nigerian Judiciary.
According to him, “for daring to stand up for ordinary members of the APC in Rivers State who were treated by their own leadership with impunity and contempt, a leadership that collected money from party members and denied them forms and participation in the Congress of their own party, the High Court of Rivers State was physically attacked, and has been described as Governor Nyesom Wike’s supermarket, Senator Abe’s pay as you go Court, and now a judgment of the Supreme Court of the land expressed a judicial decision, a mere academic exercise.
Ebeku who blasted Amachree for disregarding the ruling of the Supreme Court said that the state itself is a creation of law.
He said: “Today, Mr Amachree moves around in Police convoy surrounded by the powers of the state and continues to parade himself as chairman of the APC in Rivers State despite the clear and unambiguous decision of the Supreme Court that the order of the Port Harcourt High Court that voided the process that produced him remains valid.
“Mr Amachree and his sponsors must realize that the state itself is a creation of law, and strict adherence to the rule of law remains the only barrier to anarchy in Nigeria.
Ebeku described the attitude of Ojukaye Flagg-Amachree as most unfortunate, who in the face of an extant order of a High Court of competent jurisdiction in Rivers State which voided the illegal congresses of APC and its processes continue to parade Tonye Cole as the governorship candidate of the party and himself as the party chairman in the state.
“It is this kind of recklessness, defiance and flagrant disobedience of Court orders that not only put our democracy to test but has brought the APC to the present logjam it finds herself.
“How can those who came to power by the order of Court, turn around today not only to disobey Court orders but to vilify a process they benefitted from in the past.
“It is most unfortunate that at this level of development in our country that beneficiaries of the rule of law can describe an order of the highest Court in the land as a mere academic exercise and continue to parade themselves as pretenders to an office against which there is not only a subsisting Judgment of the High Court, but a clear opinion of the Supreme Court expressed in support of the High Court Judgment.
“I want to advise Mr Ojukaye Flag-Amachree and Mr Tonye Cole to stop parading themselves as chairman and Candidate of the APC in Rivers State respectively. Since they claim to have gone to appeal, we also advise them to wait for the outcome of their appeal.
“Until then, he (Flag-Amachree) and his co-travellers should learn to obey an order from a Court of competent jurisdiction in their own interest”.
