A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has adjourned hearing until October 8, 2025, to commence accelerated hearing on a suit concerning the legitimacy of the recent local council election in the state.
The suit was filed by local government chairmanship candidates of the Emeka Beke-led All Progressives Congress, APC, faction, against the newly elected council chairmen produced by the party’s camp led by Tony Okocha.
The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, is also a respondent in the suit.
The APC chairmanship candidate for Bonny LGA, Dagogo Fubara, and 19 others are in court seeking interpretation on who is the legitimate state chairman of the party, between Beke and Okocha, following a judgment of the Rivers State High Court presided over by Justice Sika Aprioku.
The plaintiffs are also asking the court to nullify the primary election conducted by the Okocha-led APC and the candidates who emerged from it, who have already been declared winners in 20 LGAs across the state.
The APC chairmanship candidates from the Beke faction are praying the court to direct RSIEC to declare them the authentic winners of the August 30, 2025, council elections in Rivers State.
DAILY POST reports that when the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the court noted the absence of counsel for RSIEC.
All other parties present applied for an adjournment, and presiding judge Justice Stephen Jumbo adjourned the case until October 8 for accelerated hearing.
DAILY POST recalls that the Beke faction of the APC had written to RSIEC, urging the Commission not to recognize any individual who did not emerge from primaries conducted under his leadership, insisting that he remains the authentic state chairman of the party based on the law.
RSIEC, in its response, maintained that it neither monitored the primaries conducted by the Beke-led APC nor recognized their candidates.
It would be recalled that on August 12, 2024, a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt had dismissed the seven-member Caretaker Committee of the APC in Rivers State, led by Okocha, which was appointed by the National Working Committee, NWC, of the party.
Justice Aprioku, ruling in a suit filed by Sam Sam Etetegwung, Banarth Ezemoye, Ezekiel Ubom, and others on behalf of the democratically elected APC executive in the state, reinstated the executive led by Beke as the legitimate leadership of the party in Rivers State.
The court issued a perpetual injunction against the Okocha-led caretaker committee, prohibiting them from interfering with the Beke-led executive until the end of their four-year term.
Additionally, the court restrained the APC’s national leadership from recognizing the Okocha-led committee and directed them to acknowledge the Beke-led executive as the party’s authentic leadership until their term expires.
The court also criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for supporting the dissolution of the democratically elected APC executives and warned that leaders of political parties must adhere to their own constitutions and avoid acting recklessly.
Justice Aprioku found that the APC National Working Committee failed to justify their actions, which were deemed in violation of both the party’s and Nigeria’s constitutions.
As a result, the court awarded N300,000 in costs in favour of the APC executive led by Beke.
The judge dismissed preliminary objections raised by the defendants regarding the justification and the application for joinder by additional parties.
Justice Aprioku ruled that the appointment of the seven-member caretaker committee led by Okocha was null and void, with no legal standing, asserting that the committee members had no legal existence.
