A court in Rivers State, Port Harcourt, has made a decision to stop the national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from holding their planned local elections in Rivers State. These elections were supposed to happen on October 11, 16, and 26, 2024. The leaders who were stopped are Abdullahi Umar-Ganduje and Surajudeen Ajibola-Basiru.
The case was brought to the court by Peter Ohochukwu and Haija Ndidi-Chukwuma on behalf of themselves and other elected leaders of the APC in Rivers State. They named the APC, the head of the police, the Nigeria Police, and the national election body, INEC, as defendants.
The judge, Justice Godwin O. Ollor, decided that the APC leaders and their team should not conduct or manage any elections for the APC in Rivers State for now. He made this decision based on the arguments presented by the lawyer, Collins Dike.
The court also said that the national leaders of the APC should not try to suspend or interfere with the current APC state leaders, who are led by Emeka Beke. This order will stay until another hearing is held on September 9, 2024.
Outside the courtroom, Collins Dike, the lawyer for the people who filed the case, explained to journalists why they went to court. He said that after a previous judgment by another judge, Justice S. H. Aprioku, the national APC office announced plans for new elections in Rivers State. This move seemed to ignore the earlier judgment that said the current leaders’ term is still valid. Therefore, they decided to go back to court to stop this new election plan.
Dike said they are happy the court understood their point and stopped the planned elections for now. He emphasized that the case is not over yet, but this is a positive first step.