0
Chief Emeka Beke-led executive of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has described Tony Okocha-led executive committee of the party as illegal, citing a recent Court of Appeal judgment.
Spokesperson of the party, Darlington Nwauju, disclosed in a statement on Monday that the May 29, 2026, judgment of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt affirmed the nullification of the congresses that produced the Okocha-led executive.
He said the appellate court upheld the December 20, 2024, ruling of the Rivers State High Court, which earlier voided the party’s congresses and effectively set aside the emergence of the Okocha-led leadership structure.
Nwauju insisted that the Beke-led executive remains the only legally recognised leadership of the party in the state, stressing that successive judicial pronouncements have consistently validated its position.
He criticised the APC National Working Committee (NWC), alleging non-compliance with court orders that reinstated the Beke-led leadership.
Referencing earlier decisions, he noted that Justice Sika Aprioku had on August 12, 2024, reinstated the Beke-led executive, but claimed the ruling had not been implemented by the party’s national leadership.
He added that the latest Court of Appeal decision has reinforced the legal standing of the Beke-led faction and effectively settled the question of leadership within the party in Rivers State.
Nwauju said, “As it stands today, only a higher court can set aside Justice Obomanu’s order, which the Court of Appeal ruling delivered by Justice Elfreda Williams-Dawodu has rightfully sustained.
“Whether the courts choose option A or B, one thing is constant, and that is the fact that the congresses of November 23, 2024 and November 30, 2024, have been buried.”
He further argued that members of the Okocha-led executive lacked the legal authority to act on behalf of the party following the court decisions.
Nwauju asserted that candidates nominated by the Okocha-led leadership for the August 2025 local government elections were not validly sponsored and called for the recognition of candidates submitted by the Beke-led executive, urging the APC National Working Committee to review all primaries conducted in Rivers State and expunge records linked to “illegal leadership structure.”
He said, “All nominations, representations, communications, documentation, and decisions made on behalf of the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) between December 20, 2024, and Friday, May 29, 2026, bearing the seal, imprimatur, or authority of members of the allegedly illegal executive, their agents, assigns, or privies, are, to the extent of the subsisting court orders, declared illegal, null, void, and of no effect.
“As of today, there exists no other legally constituted executive of the APC in Rivers State outside that led by Chief Emeka Beke, except where (a) a consent judgment is reached as part of a structured political resolution, or (b) a superior court issues an order overturning the existing judicial pronouncements.
“That the nomination of candidates submitted to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the August 2025 Local Government Elections on behalf of the Rivers APC was carried out by persons not recognised in law, and is therefore illegal.
“Consequently, all declarations and Certificates of Return issued in favour of the All Progressives Congress are to be withdrawn and should instead be issued to the duly nominated chairmen and vice chairmen communicated to RSIEC on August 14, 2025, by the Chief Emeka Beke-led executive.”
