*Raising Questions Over Party Decisions, 2027 Candidates, As Faction Insists Exco Not Threatened
The Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal has upheld the judgment of the Rivers State High Court which nullified the ward, local government, and state congresses of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State that produced the executive committee led by Chief Tony Okocha, an ally of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, dismissing the appeal filed by the Okocha-led executive as incompetent.
Justice Elfreida Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu, JCA, delivered the judgment on Friday, May 29, 2026, in Appeal No. CA/PH/523/2024, affirming the jurisdiction of the lower court and dismissing the appeal on the ground that it was incompetent. The ruling means the High Court order nullifying the congresses remains standing, potentially voiding all decisions, representations, and candidate selections made by the Okocha-led executive from December 20, 2024, to date.
The ruling adds a potentially devastating new dimension to the APC’s already complex political situation in Rivers State, coming just days after Wike ally Kingsley Ogundu Chinda was declared the party’s governorship candidate following Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s dramatic withdrawal from the primaries. If the congresses that produced the state executive committee are void, the legitimacy of the party structure that conducted those primaries and produced candidates for the 2027 elections could itself be called into question.
The crisis traces back to December 20, 2024, when Justice Godswill Obomanu of the Rivers State High Court issued an ex parte order restraining the APC from conducting congresses across Rivers State while a pending matter was before the court.
Despite the subsisting restraining order, the APC proceeded to conduct ward, local government, and state congresses, which eventually produced Chief Tony Okocha as state chairman alongside other members of the executive committee. The congresses were conducted under the auspices of the national party leadership, and the Okocha-led executive was recognised by the APC national secretariat.
The rival faction of the APC led by Emeka Beke returned to the High Court and prayed that the congresses be nullified for having been conducted in defiance of a subsisting court order. Justice Obomanu granted the application and nullified the congresses.
Dissatisfied with the nullification, the Okocha-led faction approached the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Rivers State High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter and grant the restraining order. The appeal sought to have the trial court’s orders struck out for want of jurisdiction, which, if successful, would have invalidated both the restraining order and the subsequent nullification of the congresses.
The Court of Appeal, however, found the appeal incompetent and dismissed it, effectively leaving Justice Obomanu’s nullification order intact and undisturbed.
Counsel to the Emeka Beke-led faction, Emenike Ebete, explained the practical implications of the appellate court’s decision.
“An appeal was filed by Tony Okocha exco against the order of Justice Obomanu that nullified the congresses that were conducted by APC while the matter was in court. Before those congresses were conducted, the court gave an ex parte order restraining them from conducting those congresses. They disobeyed the order of court, went ahead and conducted local government, state and ward congresses,” Ebete stated.
“So we went back to the High Court and prayed that those congresses be nullified, having disobeyed the court order, and the court nullified the congresses. They appealed to the Court of Appeal, and that appeal was dismissed because the court said the appeal was incompetent. The order the High Court made nullifying their congresses still stands,” Ebete added.
He clarified that this appeal was separate from another ruling by Justice Sika Aprioku, which had earlier removed the Okocha-led executive from the leadership of the Rivers APC through a different legal proceeding.
The ruling carries potentially far-reaching consequences for the APC’s 2027 election preparations in Rivers State. If the congresses that produced the Okocha-led executive are void, all decisions and representations made by that executive on behalf of the APC from December 20, 2024, to date are potentially null and of no effect.
This raises serious questions about the validity of the party primaries conducted under the Okocha-led executive’s authority, including the senatorial, House of Representatives, House of Assembly, and governorship primaries that produced candidates for the 2027 elections. The governorship primary that produced Kingsley Chinda as the APC’s Rivers flagbearer with 268,497 votes was conducted by a party structure that derives its legitimacy from the very congresses that the Court of Appeal has now confirmed were nullified.
If challenged, the candidates produced through primaries organised by a voided executive committee could face disqualification, potentially leaving the APC without valid candidates in Rivers State for the 2027 elections.
The Okocha-led faction disputed interpretations of the Court of Appeal judgment and insisted that the ruling does not threaten the status of the current state executive committee.
In a statement issued by the faction’s Publicity Secretary, Hon. Chibike Ikenga, the party said the Court of Appeal had given an interlocutory ruling and sent the matter back to the court of first instance for full trial, suggesting that the substantive issues remain to be determined.
“There is no threat to the status of the EXCO pending full trial. Our lawyers will study the full judgment and advise on the next step,” the statement read.
Ikenga characterised the appeal as one “challenging the jurisdiction of the High Court directing the parties to ‘maintain status quo’ and also challenging the competence of the suit before the Rivers State High Court.”
The faction urged party members to remain calm and avoid being misled by what it described as “deliberate misrepresentation of the facts and circumstances of the judgement by those who lack in-depth knowledge of what transpired in the Court.”
The Court of Appeal ruling deepens what is already one of the most complex political and legal situations in any state ahead of the 2027 elections. The Rivers APC has been divided between rival factions for years, with the contest for control of the party structure intertwined with the larger political war between FCT Minister Wike and Governor Fubara.
The Okocha-led executive, aligned with Wike, has been the structure through which the minister has exercised control over APC affairs in Rivers State. It was this structure that conducted the primaries in which Wike’s allies swept all 13 House of Representatives tickets and key Senate positions, and which produced Chinda as the governorship candidate after Fubara withdrew.
If the appellate court’s affirmation of the nullification of the congresses is interpreted broadly, the entire edifice of APC candidate selection in Rivers State could be undermined, potentially handing Wike’s opponents a legal weapon to challenge every APC candidate produced under the Okocha-led structure.
The Beke-led faction, which obtained the original nullification order, may now seek to use the Court of Appeal’s ruling to challenge the legitimacy of the primaries and the candidates they produced, potentially through applications to INEC or further court proceedings.
The immediate next steps include the Okocha faction’s application for a certified true copy of the full judgment, after which its lawyers will advise on whether to pursue a further appeal to the Supreme Court or to await the full trial at the High Court that the faction claims the matter has been remitted to.
The Beke faction, armed with the appellate court’s endorsement of the High Court’s nullification order, may seek to leverage the ruling to challenge the APC’s candidate lists in Rivers State or to press for recognition as the legitimate state executive of the party.
INEC, which is responsible for recognising party structures and accepting candidate nominations, will need to determine which faction’s submissions it treats as valid, a decision that could itself become the subject of further litigation.
The ruling was delivered on Friday, May 29, 2026, by Justice Elfreida Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu, JCA, of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division.
