Council chairmen and councilors in Rivers State are now in the job market sequel to the nullification on Thursday, July 9 of the council election conducted under the watch of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi.
The quashing of the election, held seven days to the end of the Amaechi administration, spells more confusion in the fouled air of Rivers politics caused by the fight between the losing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the victorious Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Apart from bickering over electoral loss, the APC is also kicking against what it sees as the dismantling of Amaechi’s structures.
The dismantling includes the sack of over 350 polytechnics staff employed less than one month to the end of the Amaechi administration and the re-instatement of Rivers University of Science and Technology lecturers denied nearly two years’ salaries in a maze of bitter politics.
Governor Nyesom Wike is also clearing other political and economic booby traps strewn on his path to the Brick House.
The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt nullified the election of council chairmen and councilors of 22 of the 23 councils in the state, which was conducted on May 23, 2015 by the defunct Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), chaired by Augustine Ahiazu.
The case was filed by the PDP.
Justice Lambo Akanbi ruled that the election was illegal and an affront to the court because the matter was pending in court and the RSIEC and the government had been ordered by the court not to conduct it.
Earlier, the chairmen of the 22 councils under the auspices of the state chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) had withdrawn the suit filed against Wike and the state House of Assembly.
They were seeking an injunction to restrain Wike and the lawmakers from dissolving the councils.
The APC expressed surprise and sadness over the latest court judgment, given despite an earlier ruling by the same court to stand down the matter until the appeal questioning the jurisdiction of the court is determined by the Appeal Court.
The APC said “what Justice Lambo Akanbi did this morning was to hand out ruling on a matter that was awaiting a decision of the Appeal Court.
“Without any hearing notice to parties except, perhaps to the PDP, Akanbi … quickly handed down a ruling in respect of a matter between the PDP and other parties, including the [RSIEC], voiding the election of 22 council chairmen and councillors in Rivers State.
“He claimed to have earlier ordered that the elections should not hold.
“However, that position by Akanbi is far from what transpired in the matter.
“The truth of the matter remains that there is a pending appeal on the substantive case in which same Akanbi on April 29 gave as reason for adjourning the matter sine die until the appeal is dispensed with beginning from October 12.
“How come Akanbi decided to bring forward the matter without even serving hearing notices to the parties? Why does Akanbi want to ambush and foist on the Court of Appeal a situation of hopelessness?
“What business does Akanbi have in re-opening the matter other than fragrant display of judicial rascality?
“It is important to re-iterate here that the APC applied to join in the matter which the judge turned down and the APC immediately proceeded to appeal that refusal to be joined and that appeal is also pending.
“Why has Akanbi acted in a manner aimed at frustrating that appeal?
“We, the APC, are not bound by the court ruling handed down today by Akanbi because the APC duly applied to join in the matter and when the learned justice refused the joiner application, the party proceeded to appeal that refusal, an appeal that is still pending at the Court of Appeal.”
