By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
The Cross River State executive of the All Progressive Congress (APC) headed by John Ochala has been affirmed by the National Working Committee (NWC), based on a court judgment, and warned illegal factions to back off from impersonation.
Ochala has been holding the state chairman position since the death of former helmsman, Matthew Achigbe, in a car crash in November 2018.
APC National Publicity Secretary, Lanre Issa-Onilu, explained that the party’s position is backed up by a Court of Appeal judgment on April 23, 2020 which recognises as legitimate the Cross River executive chaired by Ochala.
The Appeal Court also
- Nullified an earlier ruling by an Abuja High Court for lacking territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit brought by a supposed factional APC executive in Cross River State.
- Affirmed that election of members of a political party by ward, local government area and state congresses to offices in the respective chapters of the party in a state is an internal affair of that party – a position affirmed by the Supreme Court in several previous judgements.
“The election of members of a political party by ward, local government area and state congresses to offices in the respective chapters of the party in a state is clearly an internal affair of that party.
“Any dispute as to the validity of such an election or its nullification or cancellation by the National Working Committee of the political party is therefore an internal or domestic affair of that political party,” the court ruled.
“The general law is that a political party, being a voluntary organisation or association, disputes over its internal affairs are non justiciable and a court has no jurisdiction to entertain them.”
A statement issued by Issa-Onilu recalled that the APC NWC had nullified the Cross River State congress held on May 19, 2018 and the purported election of the executives from that congress.
In its ruling, the Appeal Court added that the Abuja High Court had no territorial and subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate and decide issues concerning a state congress of the APC and election of executives of the Cross River chapter.
“Therefore, its exercise of jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit and the proceedings therein and the judgment delivered by it are a nullity. On the whole, this appeal succeeds as it has merit. It is accordingly allowed.”
The Appeal Court ordered the respondents to pay N400,000 costs to the appellants.