Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The supreme court has affirmed the sack of Igo Aguma as caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers state.
The court of appeal in the state had upturned the verdict of a Rivers high court which had earlier declared Aguma as the chairman of the caretaker committee.
The appellate court had sacked Aguma on the grounds that APC’s constitution gives the national executive committee of the party the exclusive right of to appoint a caretaker committee.
The court of appeal then recognised Isaac Ogbobula, a loyalist to Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, as the authentic caretaker committee leader.
Aggrieved, Aguma had approached the supreme court to void the lower court’s judgment.
He questioned the jurisdiction of the court of appeal to entertain the suit.
Delivering judgment on Friday, Amina Augie, justice of the apex court who read the judgment, dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.
“This appeal is merely an academic venture, lacks merit and is therefore struck out,’’ she said.
AGUMA QUITS APC AFTER JUDGMENT
Reacting to the court’s decision, Aguma who is a key member of the Magnus Abe faction of Rivers APC said he has made a decision to resign his membership of the party.
He said in a statement: “It is now clear that it is not within the purview of the court to protect the rights and privileges of members of a political party, in this case, the APC. It is the APC that should protect the rights of her members but has failed to do so.
“I cannot continue to be a member of a political party that endangers and does not give any form of protection to the rights of its members and has no respect whatsoever for its own constitution at all but chooses to be run against democratic principles into for self-destructive purposes. Therefore I announce my exit from the All Progressives Congress immediately.”
In a separate statement, Livingstone Wechie, another APC chieftain, announced his resignation from the party.
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