The All
Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State has called on the Independent
National Electoral Commission, INEC, to do the needful and put the party and
its candidates back on the ballot for the general elections scheduled for this
Saturday.
The APC made the call at a Press briefing, Thursday, at the State Party Secretariat along Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway off Garrison, Port Harcourt, shortly after a peaceful protest outside the State INEC headquarters. In a statement read at the briefing and disseminated to the media by its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, the party insisted that INEC obey the stay of execution order by the Court of Appeal which was reaffirmed in its ruling again on Wednesday. “After a meeting of the State Working Committee of our party in the State today in which we meticulously deliberated on the recent court rulings of various courts, especially the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt yesterday to further re-affirm two earlier orders that stayed the execution of the judgments of the lower court, our conclusion is that the APC and it’s candidates will now, most certainly, be on the ballot this Saturday. No order or judgment given since, including orders given by the Supreme Court on both jurisdiction and representation have said otherwise. “We opted not to rely on a media circus to convey our right to be included. Unlike the many news reports that were suggesting we were dead and buried, we have since seen the orders and the Supreme Court judgment on the stay of execution which proves beyond reasonable doubt that INEC has an obligation to relist APC or risk being sanctioned for excluding us and disobeying a subsisting court order. “We hail once again both decisions of the stay of execution, taken by the Court of Appeal recently and their reaffirmation of both, yesterday. These decisions mean that nothing is stopping INEC from placing APC on the ballot. We welcome the moves by INEC to put us back on the ballot, as the alternative would have confirmed once and for all, the genuine fear that they are working for the PDP,” the statement read. The APC further noted that “obedience to the rule of law is the best antidote to anarchy” and urged the electoral body “to speedily implement the rule of law and return APC and its candidates to the ballot as it is the party’s right to compete.” The statement also hailed “the decision of the Supreme court to refuse moves by Senator Magnus Abe and his lawyers to appeal the stays of execution. Nobody is in any doubt now that The Supreme court’s throwing out of their appeal against our stays of execution, speaks volumes. In summary, it means that the stays still subsist.” The party also called on its members across Rivers State “to be steadfast and come out and vote massively for the APC and support President Buhari to victory. “We have passed the stage of worrying if we will be on the ballot. We must now prepare to punish those who have been trying to keep us out of the elections with our votes. “ With these same votes, we must give Mr. President our full support. He stood by our leader because our leader had always stood by him and if you want to keep getting what you are getting, you have to keep doing what you are doing. Everybody must come out and vote APC to deny PDP any sight of government and help our President secure his second term in office,” the statement concluded.
The APC made the call at a Press briefing, Thursday, at the State Party Secretariat along Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway off Garrison, Port Harcourt, shortly after a peaceful protest outside the State INEC headquarters. In a statement read at the briefing and disseminated to the media by its Publicity Secretary, Chris Finebone, the party insisted that INEC obey the stay of execution order by the Court of Appeal which was reaffirmed in its ruling again on Wednesday. “After a meeting of the State Working Committee of our party in the State today in which we meticulously deliberated on the recent court rulings of various courts, especially the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt yesterday to further re-affirm two earlier orders that stayed the execution of the judgments of the lower court, our conclusion is that the APC and it’s candidates will now, most certainly, be on the ballot this Saturday. No order or judgment given since, including orders given by the Supreme Court on both jurisdiction and representation have said otherwise. “We opted not to rely on a media circus to convey our right to be included. Unlike the many news reports that were suggesting we were dead and buried, we have since seen the orders and the Supreme Court judgment on the stay of execution which proves beyond reasonable doubt that INEC has an obligation to relist APC or risk being sanctioned for excluding us and disobeying a subsisting court order. “We hail once again both decisions of the stay of execution, taken by the Court of Appeal recently and their reaffirmation of both, yesterday. These decisions mean that nothing is stopping INEC from placing APC on the ballot. We welcome the moves by INEC to put us back on the ballot, as the alternative would have confirmed once and for all, the genuine fear that they are working for the PDP,” the statement read. The APC further noted that “obedience to the rule of law is the best antidote to anarchy” and urged the electoral body “to speedily implement the rule of law and return APC and its candidates to the ballot as it is the party’s right to compete.” The statement also hailed “the decision of the Supreme court to refuse moves by Senator Magnus Abe and his lawyers to appeal the stays of execution. Nobody is in any doubt now that The Supreme court’s throwing out of their appeal against our stays of execution, speaks volumes. In summary, it means that the stays still subsist.” The party also called on its members across Rivers State “to be steadfast and come out and vote massively for the APC and support President Buhari to victory. “We have passed the stage of worrying if we will be on the ballot. We must now prepare to punish those who have been trying to keep us out of the elections with our votes. “ With these same votes, we must give Mr. President our full support. He stood by our leader because our leader had always stood by him and if you want to keep getting what you are getting, you have to keep doing what you are doing. Everybody must come out and vote APC to deny PDP any sight of government and help our President secure his second term in office,” the statement concluded.
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