Court of Appeal rules APC can’t field candidates in Rivers State

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A ruling by the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State has sounded the death knell for the All Progressives Congress (APC) as it cannot field candidates in the forthcoming elections in the state.

It would be recalled that Justice Chiwendu Nworgu of the Rivers State High Court had in a ruling voided the party’s congresses saying the exercises were conducted in outright violation of subsisting court orders.

The APC appealed the judgment of the lower court at the Appeal Court.

In December 2018, the appellate court dismissed APC’s appeal challenging the Nworgu’s verdict.

However, the party, dissatisfied with the ruling, filed another appeal, challenging the ruling of the same court.

The APC argued that the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the matter in the first instance.

After listening to the argument by APC counsel, Justice C.N. Uwa argued that the case filed at Rivers State High Court that precipitated the appeal was a pre-election matter and ought to have been appealed and disposed off within 60 days after the lower court’s judgment.

She explained that where an action is status bound, the appellate court has no constitutional right to hear it, adding that an earlier appeal challenging the judgment of the lower court had been dismissed because the APC filed the matter 25 days after Justice Nworgu’s verdict.

“This is a pre-election matter. The Court has earlier held this in an appeal of the substantive matter. This court cannot seat against itself on the same matter. The appeal is fundamentally defective. The court cannot go into the matter, as doing so will amount to an effort in futility.

“It is unnecessary to continue an appeal, no matter the merit, which this court has held as status bound. It would be an effort in futility to continue. This appeal is hereby struck out,” she said.

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