The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has said it would neither be intimidated nor discouraged by the Federal High Court judgement sacking all of its candidates for the 2023 general elections.
The PUNCH reports that Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt and presided over by Justice Emmanuel A. Obile had on Tuesday annulled all the primary elections that produced candidates of the APC for all elective positions in the state.
Justice Obile gave the judgement in a suit by George Orlu and four others who claimed that they were unlawfully excluded from taking part in the process of electing the party’s delegates.
But speaking to newsmen at his office in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, the APC Chairman in the state, Chief Emeka Beke, urged members of the party not to lose hope by what he termed a distraction, saying the party was poised to take over the state in 2023.
Beke further said the party was prepared to follow the matter to a logical conclusion and expressed the optimism that the Appeal Court would correct the injustice meted out to the main opposition party in the state.
“We are calling on our supporters to remain calm and focused. This is a judgement that naturally will not hold water. We urge our members to remain focused because we are ready to pursue it to a 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 judgement came. We saw it coming because the judgement was written three weeks ago. But by the grace of God we will get justice,” Chief Beke said.
The APC chairman said the party would not be intimidated by the court judgement, pointing out that it would not allow a repeat of what happened in 2019, where the party in the state was excluded from the ballot, following a court decision.
He expressed worry about why the court would give justice to the plaintiffs who according to him were not part of the process, adding that the judgement was a mere distraction.
Beke said, “You must be part of the process before you can go to court. As a party, we are working very hard so that we will be on the ballot.
“We are working to ensure that what happened the last time (2019) will not repeat itself.
“They are only trying to distract our people and 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 flag off our campaign team on Friday and roll out our master plan for Rivers people. We have to put it off till next week. We need to start a process to boost the morale of our followers and we will come out very strong.”
