28th January, 2020
By Okafor Ofiebor
Restoration of peace in the crisis ridden Rivers State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) may not be in sight soon as Justice Augusta Chuku of the Rivers State High Court sitting in Port-Harcourt on Monday washed her hands off a matter brought before her by Igo Aguma challenging the legality of the Caretaker Committee of Rivers APC.
Justice Chuku who is a spouse to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Mr Kingsley Chukwu, had in the previous sitting suspended the planned Ward, Local Government and State Congresses of the Party pending the determination of the substantive matter.
lgo Aguma, former federal Lawmaker and a former ally of the Transportation Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, dragged APC to Court.
When the matter came up on Monday, the Judge withdrew from the case, asking that it be reassigned to another Judge.
Some chieftains of the APC had written a petition against her that she might not dispense justice to all concerned in the case.
This surprise twist in the case again will, most likely, further delay resolution of the lingering crisis in the state APC.
Speaking with Journalists, Tuduru Ede, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said the parties in the dispute will wait for the Chief Judge of the state to reassign the matter to another Judge.
Counsel to Aguma, Echezuna Etiaba, said the next Judge will, amongst other things, interpret the constitution of the party and determine the legality of the caretaker committee put in place by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
On his part, a chieftain of the party, Barr. Chizi Enyi, said it was abnormal that the Judge didn’t vacate the consequential order she made in the matter before discontinuing with it.
“The Judge instead of setting aside her earlier orders before sending back the case file for reassignment, knowing that her orders will not be binding on another judge, refused to do that”, he said.