With 37 days to the national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a Federal High Court sitting in Port-Harcourt, Rivers state has struck out the suit challenging the legitimacy of the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CCEPC).
The ruling, which is about the third in four months and coming from different courts, came at the height of the multiple crises resulting from power play among various stakeholders within the APC to halt the Buni-led committee ahead of the 2023 elections.
Delivering the ruling in the Suit No: FHC/ABJ/857/2021brought before it by Odjebobo Desire Onayefeme and others, Justice Phoebe Msuen Ayua said the APC National Chairman, the National Working Committee of the party as well as the CCEPC National Secretary sued as 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants respectively were non-juristic persons.
He therefore struck out all the defendants on that ground.
Prior to this time, a Delta State High Court had, on October 15, 2021, similarly struck out an action filed by Elvis Ayomanor and others, challenging the APC Ward, LGA and State Congresses.
In the same vein, Justice G.B Briki-Okolosi of the Delta State High Court, on December 22, 2021, struck out Suit No: A/139/ 2021 between Chukwusa Edafe Matthew & 14 others Versus APC & others, seeking to set aside APC Ward, LGA and State Congresses in Delta state.
In the latest judgement, the Court ruled that the action was “non-justifiable and incurably incompetent because the substratum of the matter borders on the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress.”
The latest ruling has put to rest the furore surrounding the legality of the Buni-led CCEPC.
‘Party not in crisis’
Commenting on the development, an APC chieftain in Kogi state, Kingsley Fanwo, dismissed the crisis tag often attached to the party.
Fanwo, who is the state commissioner for information and communications, said the current happening within the party is politics and not unexpected.
The party chieftain made the clarifications on People, Politics and Power, a political programme on the African Independent Television weekend and monitored in Abuja.
He said: “The party is not in any form of crisis. What we have is an attrition of interests which is normal in a ruling party that many believe will continue to lead Nigeria beyond 2023.
“The Mai Mala Buni leadership of the party has done very well in stabilizing the party and attracting political heavyweights into the party. PDP is saying there is problem in APC, and their governors, senators and other heavyweights are dumping their party for the ruling APC. Who is in crisis here?
“Crisis ridden parties are not naturally attractive. So, Nigerians know which party is struggling and lamenting. If they think Nigerians have forgotten how they destroyed this country, they will know better in 2023.”
Fanwo further lauded the Buni-led committee for ensuring very successful congresses from the ward to the state level, describing the CECPC as trusted to “deliver a National Convention to remember.”
Party members urge Buhari on chair
Meanwhile, the South-south Emerging Leaders’ Forum (SELF) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sustain his anti-corruption policy by supporting a corruption-free aspirant among all contenders for the APC national chairmanship.
The forum said President Buhari’s major legacies after 2023 should include his successor and those that would emerge leaders of the party were not indicted by any anti-corruption agency.
SELF National Coordinator Barrister Preye Wilson said this in a statement Sunday in Abuja.
Wilson said his forum had taken it upon itself to help the president identify credible national chairmanship aspirant among the eleven aspirants jostling to lead the ruling party.
He said a challenge had been thrown to the North to also ensure only a credible and corruption-free presidential aspirant from the South is supported.
The statement said: “As a forum we are mindful of what becomes the anti-corruption fight of Buhari’s administration after the President might have left in 2023. We are also mindful of legacies our amiable President will leave behind in terms of a successor and those who lead the ruling party.
“It is a known fact that corruption is contagious and it spreads like a virus that must be avoided. Its spread faster than cancer, if a corrupt or any indicted person is allowed to lead the ruling party one wonder how it will be easy to lead anti-corruption campaign henceforth.
“It is a fact that all the contenders are qualified to be APC national chairman in terms of their political experiences but integrity should be the yardstick and not how long one has been in politics or positions such individuals have held in the past.
“We have, however, painstakingly studied the records of all the prominent eleven aspirants that are jostling for the position of APC national chairman and we can only beat our chests for the Senator representing Niger East at the Red Chamber, Muhammed Sani Musa, aka 313.
“We therefore challenge other reputable organisations like ours to cross-check this fact and also do their separate due-diligence in terms of corruption records of all those currently seeking endorsement to lead the APC.”
