PH Residents React To Adjournment Of APC Matter

Following the adjournment of the Supreme Court’s judgement on an appeal filed by Rivers State All Progressives Congress (APC) against Justice Chiwendu Wogu’s judgement which declared that the party had no candidates, many Rivers indigenes and residents have reacted to the adjournment.
A Port Harcourt-based lawyer and human rights advocate, Mr Chijioke Agi, who spoke with The Tide yesterday, noted that the judgement of the Supreme Court would be meaningless if it sways in favour of the APC after elections had been conducted and won.
He said it would have been proper for the court to rule on the matter before elections are conducted.
On whether election could be deferred to accommodate the judgement of the Supreme Court, Mr Agi noted that election was not one of the grounds for which election could be deferred.
He explained that election could be deferred on the event of war, crisis and where there was a serious threat to lives and property. He also said election could be deferred when there was a total breakdown of law and order.
He, however, noted that the court could make an order that election be deferred, stating that INEC could not on its own defer an election in expectation of a pending judgement.
Also speaking, Mr Amo Bariagara, a Port Harcourt resident, noted that APC had no candidate and would therefore not contest the 2019 elections in Rivers State.
Mr Bariagara said that the party was awaiting the outcome of Supreme Court but remarked that if the APC wins at the Supreme Court, they ought to be given a chance to contest.
Another person who spoke with The Tide on the matter is the Rivers State Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mr Stanley Job Stanley who noted that the implication of delay by the Supreme Court is that APC will not field any candidate for election.
“If the court takes decision in favour of APC after the election, such decision will not in any way benefit APC candidates, because election would have been concluded by that time”, he stated.
According to him, the Electoral Act, not court judgement can shift election in Nigeria. Except where there is a case or cases of insecurity or cases of natural disaster in the affected area.

Helen Sampson & Barizaa Kpobari