Three sensitive reasons why it matters who leads APC in Rivers for now

Three key but sensitive consequences are involved in deciding who leads the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State at the moment.

This is why it is not safe to make light, the deafening court verdict in Rivers State sacking the caretaker committee (CTC) of the APC in the state led by ex-Governor Nyesom Wike’s ally, Tony Okocha to reinstate the elected executives under the influence of former minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

Background:

Amaechi as governor was controlling the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state up to 2012 when his former godson and beneficiary, Wike as minister under Goodluck Jonathan, kicked and snatched the party structure from his master. Amaechi fled to a new platform, the then upcoming APC where Mohammadu Buhari was growing in influence alongside Bola Ahmed Tinubu (then party leader, now President). With this development, Wike had free field and won the governorship election with the full backing of the presidency and other allied forces.

When 2023 presidential election came, both Tinubu and Amaechi contested the APC primaries to replace Buhari. Amaechi used the Rivers’ APC under his control to fight the battle. When he lost out to Tinubu, the Rivers State EXCO of the APC remained under his control to the consternation of the Tinubu camp which had Tony Okocha as an arrowhead.

When Tinubu emerged president, the first thing they did was to scrap the APC EXCO and appointed a CTC headed by Okocha. The EXCO loyal to Amaechi went to court. Meanwhile, Okocha held sway, captured all the spoils of war and formed a base to work for Wike who has remained in the PDP. He has also used the APC platform to coordinate the war against erstwhile Wike’s godson, Sim Fubara, who now seems to be comfortable in the womb of not only Amaechi but other victims and opponents of Wike in a new alliance that has emerged in the state.

Now, a Port Harcourt High Court last week issued a judgment recognising the Amaechi-backed Exco led by Emeka Bekee against the Wike-backed CTC led by Okocha. Many see it as the victory of Amaechi over Wike.

Read also: Rivers political crisis explodes again

Tinubu-backed NWC of APC reacts:

Following the judgement of the Rivers State High Court, delivered by the justice, Sika H. Aprioku, on August 12,2024, that sacked Okocha’s CTC, the NWC said that the Okocha-led CTC remains the authentic and recognised State Working Committee (SWC) in Rivers State.

This was disclosed by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC on Thursday August 15,2024, in Abuja, after the NWC meeting. Earlier, while addressing journalists, Fuanter said that Emeka Beke who was reinstated by a Rivers State High Court had already been sacked by another court.

Fuanter stated that Beke had later filed an appeal, but he could not wait for the outcome of his appeal before he embarked on an abuse of court processes.

According to him, the claimant in the said case sued the National Chairman and Secretary of the APC and not the party itself, pointing out that an agent of a disclosed principal cannot be sued.

The NWC posited that there is a valid and subsisting Court Judgment against Beke & Iheanyichukwu Azubuike, former Rivers State APC Chair and Legal Adviser, saying that the said judgment has been appealed against by Beke which, he claimed, is pending before the Court of Appeal.

Festus maintained that the position of the NWC is irreversible, pointing out that as far as the NWC was concerned, what happened was an abuse of power and abuse of court processes and thus it would seek legal remedy against the judgment which reinstated Beke.

The NWC is said to have already authorized the Rivers APC CTC and Okocha to move ahead and conduct congresses of the party from wards, LGAs, and State levels. Okocha has told therefore informed supporters to get ready and dared anybody who would to come meet him at the congresses.

Elected EXCO reacts: NWC position is invitation to anarchy

The Bekee-led elected Exco has described the position of the national leadership of the party as nothing but invitation to anarchy. In a statement Friday, August 16, 2024, signed by the publicity secretary, Darlington Nwauju, the party (camp) said: “We have read the response of the NWC. The response casts Nigeria as a country operating outside the rule of law, yet, this is a Party and Government that resort to the courts of the land from time to time.

“Our very first response is that of utter consternation as to how a serious organ of the ruling party could fall for the calamitous mistake of scorning at a valid decision of Court in a constitutional democracy.

The danger signal is incalculable and has the potency to scare away investors as no business or investment can thrive in an atmosphere bereft of the rule of law.”

The statement said no individual or group of individuals has the right under the law to act, serve or represent the APC Rivers State chapter without the express approval of the validly Elected Executives of the party under Emeka Beke as doing so will lead to an affront on the court. “We shall have no other option than approaching the Court to invoke its powers under law.

“We finally warn that we shall not by any means fall for the fake news claiming that validly elected Executives of the APC in Rivers State were long dissolved by a Court of law. This suggestion is embarrassingly untrue and most unfortunate as this speaks volumes of the capacity of this individual to maintain institutional memory.”

Nwauju said the only court order on the APC in Rivers State is the one sacking the CTC, why the previous interim injunction had since expired. “Characteristically, we have displayed more maturity, respect, and patience with the judiciary, trusting and believing that the rule of law will always prevail.

“We ask again – why was this mystery court judgment which Mr. Faunter is referencing never mentioned all through the 264 days that the matter lasted in court?

“We condemn this obvious national embarrassment on our party and plead with members of our NWC to guide themselves properly by getting very neutral interpretation of and digesting the judgment of August 12 2024, as this is the only existing judgment anywhere in Nigeria as touching elected Executives of APC in Rivers State.

“We close by appealing to the NWC to stop distracting our beloved President with ill-timed political innuendos/permutations which do not add a single grain of value to the Renewed Hope Agenda.”

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Critical consequences:

Fate of defected lawmakers:

One major consequence is the fate of the 26 defected lawmakers who are now battling to prove they are still members of the Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA).

The members led by Martin Amaewhule, the Speaker (the other camp calls him former speaker) have reclined, saying they did not decamp, apparently realising the danger of defecting without a valid division in parliament caused by crisis in the party.

Now, with the APC CTC (Wike camp), the party that had received them can work with the lawmakers to insist in court that they never defected, The CTC would not provide evidence of defection. But with a hostile leadership in the state’s APC, the party would gladly testify in court that the lawmakers indeed defected. If this is done and the lawmakers lose their seats, it would be big blow to Wike and Okocha and the national APC.

LGA election:

Another major consequence is the upcoming LGA election in the state. The CTC said they were not aware of any election, insisting on term elongation of former council chairmen who are loyal to Wike. They are pursuing court processes against the election. They said the APC would not participate. Now, the Bekee-led Exco is embracing the election and says the would field candidates.

Should the Amaechi-backed APC succeed in backing the election and capturing all seats with the Fubara camp, the Wike camp would lose out and the fate of 2027 elections would be decided by camps outside Wike. So, the court verdict seems to have far-reaching implications for every camp in the state.

Impeachment and survival of Fubara:

The third major consequence of the court verdict is the endless plans to impeach Fubara. The groups moving for this are the defected lawmakers and the CTC. Should they succeed, the next action would be to start impeachment of the governor. They had attempted this in October 2023 which brought full scale political crisis or war. Now, they have regrouped and issued ultimatum to the governor to table the 2024 budget before them or face sanctions (many understand this as impeachment because they would accuse the governor of spending N800Bn without parliamentary approval).

Knocking Fubara out mid-term would save the Wike camp the trouble of waiting till 2027.

Conclusion:

The court verdict seems too big in implications. The Fubara camp would want the Bekee-led APC to conclude short actions such as testifying in court against the lawmakers, submit to LGA elections by law, etc. If these are done, the eventual outcome of who is the authentic group to lead the APC may not matter anymore because the deed would have been done.

This however is how most political actions are conducted in the state at the moment with court orders that buy time, even if it is known to eventually fail. The camp fighting against this notion had benefitted from it many times in the past as a result of which the APC has never participated in any election in the state in the past 10 years.