A Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt on Thursday ordered a stay of execution of a state High Court ruling on the May 5, 2018 congresses conducted by the All Progressives Congress in Rivers State.
The court held that the grounds of appeal challenging the interlocutory orders of a High Court restraining the APC from conducting congresses were competent.
Justice Isarah Akeju, who read the unanimous judgement on behalf of the three-man panel in Suit PHC/198/2018, refused the motion by the appellant on the stay of proceedings.
The state chapter of the APC had approached the Appeal Court to set aside the ruling of a State High Court, which stopped the May 5, 2018 congresses of the party in the state.
Justice Akeju also ruled on the controversy surrounding who should represent the party in court, saying that the National Legal Adviser of the APC was competent to appoint counsel to stand in for the party in the matter as against the position of the state legal adviser of the party.
However, Thursday’s Appeal Court decision on the APC congress in the state had become an issue among party members as some of them gave it a different interpretation.
The lead counsel for APC, Tuduru Edeh, told newsmen shortly after the court session that the implication of the judgement was that the state APC elected delegates would attend the national convention of the party.
But the counsel for the 23 aggrieved members of the APC in the state, Mr. Henry Bello, insisted that the ruling of the court was an indication that statutory delegates would attend the convention.
