Supreme Court Adjourns Appeal On Rivers APC Primaries For The Second Time

The Supreme Court has once again shifted the hearing of the rivers state APC primary election for the nomination of candidates for the 2019 general election to  Monday, April 8th and Thursday, April 11th for a hearing.

Naija News understands that the Apex Court adjourned hearing in the matters for various reasons but mainly for the absence of counsel to INEC who was said to have missed his flight from Porthacourt.

The Appeals are those of Senator Magnus Abe against INEC and others, Mr. Tonye Cole against Senator Magnus Abe, the all progressive congress against the Peoples Democratic Party and the last one by the apc. Seeking consolidation of all the pending appeals.

Senator Magnus Abe in his appeal prayed the Apex Court to make a pronouncement on the authenticity of the direct and indirect primaries of the APC in Rivers State for the nomination of candidates.

The appellant specifically wants the court to determine which of the two appeals is known to law and should be recognized by INEC.

However, when the matter came up counsel to Senator Abe, Mr. Henry Bello informed the Apex Court of his motion seeking to amend his appeal. The matter was stalled as a result of the absence of the INEC counsel who is the first respondent.

Although Bello sought an order to stand down the matter to enable the counsel who was said to be airborne arrive, the Acting CJN who presided over the panel ruled that the Apex court does not stand down matters for anybody or group.

This prompted the Acting CJN to adjourn the matter to Monday, April 8.

In the two other appeals by Mr. Tonye Cole, a factional governorship candidate of the APC and the party, justice Mohamad shifted hearing in the matters to april 11 to enable parties file and exchange necessary processes.

The Acting CJN who led the seven-man panel of the Apex court also abridged time for the parties to file and exchange papers because the matters are time bound, being pre-election matters.

However in a fourth appeal by the apc seeking a consolidation of all existing apoeals relating to the primary elections, the court adjourned the matter indefinitely for the party to regularise their processes.

The house later adjourned sitting till Monday