The All Progressive Congress APC, Rivers State Chapter’s State Congresses earlier scheduled to hold from November 23 to 30 ,2024 have been paused.
Ruling on an ex-parte motion brought before it by OkwJoebrown-Ndike and two others, on behalf of aggrieved members of the party on Tuesday, Justice G V Obomanu of the Rivers state High Court restrained the APC, as well as its National Chairman, from going ahead with the planned Congresses without including the applicants in the process.
The applicants had approached the court seeking an order to compel the respondents to halt all processes relating to the Congresses until the hearing and determination of a motion on notice challenging their exclusion from the said Congresses.
The applicants contended that they were not availed nomination forms for the Congresses after they had made payments for same.
The Presiding Judge also barred the widely perceived Pro-Wike faction of the Rivers state APC from conducting Congresses on the date of between November 23 and 30, 2024, or any other dates until the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The Court similarly halted any further processes towards the conduct of the Congresses, as well as declaring null and void the outcome of the November 16, 2024 Ward Congresses held across the state .
Justice Obomanu has fixed December, 3, 2024 for the hearing of the motion on notice .
The restraining order is the second in the series of court rulings in the last few days generally seen as a serious set back for the Tony Okocha led pro-Wike faction of Rivers state APC.
A Special Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, had on Thursday, dismissed the ruling of a Federal High Court Abuja which declared the Rivers Local Government Area Election illegal and stopped the Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from participation.
