In Rivers State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has vowed to take all necessary measures to prevent a repeat of what occurred in 2019, when a ruling barred the party from running in the general election.
It declared that despite the Federal High Court’s decision on Tuesday to throw out its primary election and exclude its candidates from the 2023 general election, it will not be deterred.
In a recent ruling, Justice Emmanuel Obile upheld George Orlu and four other plaintiffs’ claims that they had been improperly barred from voting in the party’s delegate election.
Speaking in Port Harcourt, Chief Emeka Beke, the state’s APC chairman, urged party members not to give up on their efforts to assume leadership.
He said the party was ready to pursue the matter to logical conclusion and hoped that the Appeal Court would correct the injustice.
Beke said: “We are calling on our supporters to remain calm and focused. This judgment naturally will not hold water. We urge our members to remain focused because we are ready to pursue it to logical conclusion. Nobody will deny us victory in this 2023 election.
“Every common man expects that you get justice at the lower court, but in Rivers State it is different. It was shocking to us yesterday (Tuesday) when the judgment came. We saw it coming because the judgment was written three weeks ago. By the grace of God, we will get justice.”
He wondered why the court would give judgment to the plaintiffs, who, according to him, were not part of the process, insisting that the judgment was a mere distraction.
The APC chairman said: “You must be part of the process before you can go to court. As a party, we are working very hard to be on the ballot. We are working to ensure that what happened the last time will not be repeated.
“They are only trying to distract our people, then begin to buy them over to their party with the claim that APC does not have candidates.
“As a party we are supposed to launch our campaign team on Friday and role out our master plan for Rivers people. We have to postpone it till next week. We need to start a process to boost the morale of our followers and we will come out very strong.”