The Supreme Court on Friday struck out an appeal by a factional member of the party, Chief Igo Aguma, seeking to be declared the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party in the state. The Rivers State Chapter of the APC has split itself along two factional camps led by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi and Senator Magnus Ebe.
In its judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had sacked Mr Aguma and recognised the Isaac Ogbobula-led caretaker committee as the authentic leadership structure of the party in the state.
The apex court equally overturned the June 10, 2020 judgment of the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, which declared Aguma as the leader of APC in the state and sacked the Ogbobula-led committee which was constituted by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
Mr Aguma had appealed against the December 29, 2020 judgment of the Court of Appeal and urged the apex court to restore the High Court’s judgment.
However, a five-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Augie, unanimously dismissed the Aguma’s appeal for lacking in merit. Mr. Igo Aguma, has announced his exit from the party. Another chieftain of the party, Mr. Livingstone Wechie, has equally announced his exit from APC in Rivers. Aguma and Wechie’s decisions were the fallout from the Supreme Court judgement that was delivered yesterday (Friday), against their favour.
The two party chieftains, who, until their exit, belonged to Senator Magnus Abe’s faction, said they decided to leave APC having found out that it did not protect the rights of its members. Aguma, in a statement released to the media, expressed shock at the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict which upheld the Court of Appeal’s judgement that nullified the High Court ruling which had earlier declared him acting chairman of APC in Rivers State.
Credit: The Sun