Rivers APC Guber Primaries and Lanre Issa- Onilu's Misconception of The Law

Recently the acting Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress APC Lanre Issa-Onilu said the Supreme Court judgment of October does not affect the outcome of the Governorship Primaries election that held on the 2nd of October 2018.

The statement credited to the acting Publicity Secretary which came after there have been various interpretations of the judgment from various camps in the matter goes a long way to show that Mr Lanre Issa-Onilu  has chosen not to be a true party man that has embraced the values which the party have always espoused which include among other things, the respect for rule of law and promotion of justice.

The party have through the Publicity Secretary said “In view of conflicting interpretations that have greeted the recent verdict of the Supreme Court on the contentions among our members in Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), it has become necessary to clarify that the Supreme Court’s verdict has nothing to do with the primaries conducted for the governorship and legislative positions in the state''.

While I may be excused for not knowing if the Publicity Secretary of the party is a lawyer by profession, I wish to state that it is important that the party allow those who are grounded in the law to speak on such issues. This is because I find it funny for somebody to state that a process that has been nullified by the highest court in the land that produced the delegates that voted to produce the so called governorship candidate of a faction of the party will be allowed to stand by a right thinking person. What he may have failed to note is that b y virtue of the ruling of the Supreme Court, whatever that may come up from such illegal process has been become dead on arrival.

Yes. Dead on arrival is the best way to describe the process that produced the Tonye Cole candidacy. When they were busy carrying out their illegality even when the High Court had ruled against their action, they failed to realise that there are higher windows that can be used to redress such illegality. The Supreme Court through its October ruling provided such window of opportunity for the party to redeem its image that has been battered by the impunity of the Ojukaye led faction but such opportunity for redemption has been destroyed through the misguided stance of the acting publicity secretary.

One thing such stance failed to realise is that every passing day Nigerians are becoming more politically aware and want to do away with the illegality, illegitimacy, impunity and lack of respect for rule of law which was the lot bof the Peoples Democratic Party PDP when they held sway for 16 good years. Attempting to go back to such infamy will only end up demarketing the party in the state and courting failure in the forthcoming elections. All those that were returned during the indirect primaries held by the Ojukaye led faction will NEVER stand under the Nigerian laws and trying to foist such candidates on the party members majority of whom are not happy with what is going on will only make it easy for the PDP to win the elections in the state next year.

Already the party has become a laughing stock for its inability to do the needful by showing respect for rule of law and acknowledging the candidature of Sen. Magnus Abe who has shown strong resilience.

It is for this reason that I call on President Muhammadu Buhari to call the leadership of the party to order and forestall the disaster that awaits the party if it fails to do the right thing by recognising Distinguished Sen. Magnus Ngei Abe. There is still time to do this considering that the issue is a legal one which has been resolved by the judgement of the Supreme Court.

The party has a lot to gain because the said Senator is a popular candidate whose acceptability cannot be doubted. He has done so much for the party even at the threat of his life. The fact that Abe's candidacy will also assuage the people of the Ogoni ethnic nationality that has been in the struggle for better life for the Niger Delta people will guarantee a tsunami of votes for the party cannot be overemphasised.

Like I earlier posited, Nigerians became tired of the impunity of the PDP and opted for the APC. The party should not disappoint its teeming supporters by eating its regurgitation through the careless statement credited to Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu.

Comrade Nwokoma Messiah Contributed This Piece From Abuja