Another deepening political crisis has erupted in Rivers State, thus further threatening the fragile peace and stability already settling in the oil-rich state with the acronym: The Treasure Base of the Nation! A new political twist engulfs the main opposition political party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP control Rivers State, had been embroiled in an intra political party brouhaha since October 30, 2023, following an unsuccessful attempt by 27 out of the 32 lawmakers of the state House of Assembly, to impeach Governor Similaiye Joseph Fubara, for alleged constitutional infraction.
Thirteen months after that move was stoutly rebuffed, the state had been passing through different spheres of political turmoil that have sharply factionalised the state into two, principally between former Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, and his political godson and current governor of the state, Sir Fubara.
Following the widening divide between the two estranged political gladiators, there have been skirmishes arising from the defection of the 27 former Assembly members from the PDP to the APC, the dissolution of the 23 local government councils, hitherto held sway by chairmen loyal to Wike, and the appointment of Caretaker Committees chairmen and members as well as election and swearing-in of new council chairmen and councillors by Governor Fubara.
The political brouhaha has also led to several court cases by both parties with judgments and counter rulings, especially from the Federal High Courts in Abuja and Port Harcourt as well as the state High Court and the Court of Appeal, favouring either the Wike or Fubara’s group.
In all this, Wike, who is also the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and his group secured a Federal High Court ruling barring the state government from drawing from the monthly federal allocation. Justice Joyce Abdulmalik further barred the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Zenith Bank Limited, and other financial institutions from honouring state government matters.
Last Saturday, on the directive of its national chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje, the Rivers State chapter of the APC reportedly held her election in the 119 ward congresses in the state, against a Port Harcourt High Court order barring such congresses.
In suit No. PHC/3592/C5/2023 filed by Sam Sam Etetegwun on his behalf and other executive members of the state APC against its National chairman, AbdullahiGanduje and six others, Justice Sika Henry Aprioku of the Port Harcourt High Court, halted the dissolution of the state executive and the holding of any Congress at the different levels.
Justice Aprioku said the tenure of the party’s elected executive led by Chief Emeka Beke was still subsisting until December 2025, having been elected on October 12, 2021.
The court held that holding any Congress in the state would amount to the party arbitrarily going against its constitutional provisions and barred Chief Tony Okocha’s led Caretaker Committee of the party from parading themselves as executive members of the state APC.
In sacking the party’s Caretaker Committee chairman and members, Justice Aprioku said, going by its constitution, the authentic leadership of the APC in Rivers State was led by Chief Emeka Beke.The judgment in the case was delivered on August 12, 2024.
The court insisted that until the expiration of the four years tenure of the present executive by December next year, any ward, local government, and state congresses held by the party would be unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect.
About four months after the judgment was delivered, the national leadership of the party, contrary to the orders of the court, directed the sacked Tony Okocha’s led caretaker Committee to hold its congresses at the wards, local governments and the state levels immediately.
Armed with the secret directive for the commencement of congresses, Chief Beke’s led APC executive secured an interlocutory injunction from another Port Harcourt High Court in suit No. PHC/2699/C5/2023, presided over by Justice G. C. Ollor, restraining the party from holding any such congresses.
And, in order to forestall the execution of the Justice Ollor’s interlocutory order, the national leadership of the APC rushed to the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt in suit No. CA/PHC/37/2024, and secured a stay of execution order.
Consequently, Tony Okocha claimed, in a statement in Port Harcourt, that the party’s wards election was successfully held last Saturday in the 119 wards in the state and commended party delegates for their peaceful disposition during the exercise.
But Chief Beke dismissed the purported ward election as “kangaroo,” coming after Justice Aprioku’s earlier order, which had not been vacated or challenged in any court of law in the land.
The acclaimed authentic state party chairman, Chief Beke, said, in a statement, that the “illegality being perpetrated by the party’s national chairman, Ganduje and his sacked Tony Okocha cannot stand”. He advised party faithful and supporters to remain calm, resolute, and steadfast, assuring them that with God, justice would be achieved at the appropriate time.
As the country moves towards the 2027 general elections, the worry on the minds of the people of the state is wither Rivers with the two major political parties are engulfed in leadership battle?