•Tony Okocha
Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Chief Tony Okocha has threatened to expel rebellious members embarrassing the party and the president through frivolous court cases.
Okocha issued the threat on the sidelines of his birthday celebration at his residence in Obio-Akpor LGA of the state, where he distributed bags of rice, vegetable oil, wrappers, and cash gifts to hundreds of widows, indigent women and youths, reports Daily Independent.
He accused Governor Fubara of meddling in the affairs of the APC in the state and masterminding court cases against the party, saying if the Governor continues such acts, the wrath of God will befall him.
You may know, that a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt and presided over by Justice Godswill Obomanu in a suit filed by some aggrieved members of the APC, led by factional chairman, Emeka Beke, nullified the local government and state congresses of the party in the state, citing contempt of court.
The court had prior to the state congress issued an injunction stopping the conduct of the exercise in the state, but the APC ignored the court and conducted the exercise.
Chief Okocha explained that the party conducted the congresses in tandem with the party constitution and guidelines.
He however expressed disappointment over some unethical practices observed within the state judiciary, describing the courts in the state as the “Governor’s supermarket”.
Chief Okocha stated that the party remains supreme and no court can decide for any political party who becomes it’s chairman or executives, stressing that there are plethora of judgments of superior courts barring lower courts from interfering in party affairs.
“The day I was sworn-in, I extended an olive branch to everybody to join us and build the party but where it becomes impossible, I would not sit down and see them embarrass the party, embarrass Mr President and the party.
“The APC is Mr President’s party. For the National Chairman of the party and eighteen other National Working Committee members to come down here and then anybody is going behind because you think you have the law, you have the cash to throw around and you want to embarrass the national secretariat of our party, I will not sit down here and watch that, I will expel them. It is a political party,” Okocha vows.
Okocha said although he was not served any court processes, he has directed the party’s legal team to appeal the Court’s decision.
“Gentlemen, I’m not aware of the processes but, as a law abiding party, we have advised our lawyers to go to Court of Appeal.”
“That judgement as far as we are concerned has no effect. We’ll keep doing what we are doing because we are within the ambits of the law, the party is supreme and Justice Obomanu and whoever again they will assign the matter to will not decide for us how we’ll run our party,” Okocha stated.
In his reaction, the Special Adviser to Governor Fubara on Electronic Media, Mr Jerry Omatsogunwa, said Governor Fubara had at no time meddled into the affairs of the APC, and that he cannot in any way influence the judiciary against the party.
He said the governor is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and an active member of the PDP Governors’ Forum and has been attending their meetings.
He advised Chief Okocha to obey court orders and stop blaming the governor for his party’s crisis in the state.
