The Supreme Court will on Tuesday deliver judgements in about six appeals by factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State.
The appeals followed the decision of the Court of Appeal in Port-Harcourt, which upheld the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State which voided the primaries conducted by the faction loyal to Rotimi Amechi and the other loyal to Senator Magnus Abe.
A five-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour scheduled judgment after arguments, on Monday, from lawyer to the faction loyal to Amaechi, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) and Henry Bello, who represented the faction loyal to Abe.
Fagbemi and Bello argued the appeal filed by the APC, in which the court said it will give judgment on Tuesday, and which will be binding on the other appeals.
Fagbemi urged the court to void the judgement of the High Court on the ground that the trial court had no jurisdiction when it entertains the suit on which the judgment was given.
He contended that since the trial court had no jurisdiction it’s judgement in the matter amount to a nullity and should be set aside.
Fagbemi urged the court to invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court Act and give final judgement to end the multiple cases arising from the rivers state APC primary election.
Bello, in his counter-argument, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal of the APC on the ground that it has become a mere academic exercise in view of an earlier decision by the court.
He contended that by the decision of the court on February 8, 2019 which upheld the order of the High Court, restraining APC in Rivers State from conducting any primary election, the current appeal by APC had died and should be buried.
Bello told the court that the respondents, led by Ibrahim Umar, who were aggrieved by the violation of the Electoral Act and the Constitution in the manner the APC conducted its pre-election matters in Rivers, had secured a consent judgement in their favour, a judgment, he insisted, still stands.
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