Rivers APC Crisis Deepens As Reinstated Leadership Declares Chinda, Others’ Nominations Null, Void

The crisis rocking the Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken a fresh turn as the reinstated leadership of the party in the state has declared all nominations made during the recently concluded primaries as null and void.

Naija News reports that the faction, led by Chief Emeka Beke, said decisions, documents, communications and nominations made on behalf of the Rivers APC between December 20, 2024, and May 29, 2026, had no legal effect following the Court of Appeal judgment which upheld the nullification of the congresses that produced Chief Tony Okocha as state chairman.

The position was contained in a statement issued on Monday by the spokesman of the reinstated faction, Darlington Nwauju.

The disputed primaries had produced Kingsley Chinda, an ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, as the APC governorship candidate after Governor Siminalayi Fubara withdrew from the race.

Several other allies of the FCT minister also emerged as candidates of the party for the 2027 National Assembly and State House of Assembly elections.

The renewed crisis followed the judgment of Justice Elfreida Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu of the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, which upheld the decision of the Rivers State High Court nullifying the congresses that produced Okocha as chairman of the APC in the state.

Nwauju said the implication of the judgment was that the Okocha-led faction had no authority to act for the Rivers APC or make decisions on behalf of the party.

He said, “Recall that Justice Obomanu courageously acted in defense of the dignity of court and the sanctity of the rule of law by stamping disciplinary authority of the court in annulling all Congresses purportedly conducted in Rivers State by Alhaji Ganduje in flagrant disobedience of a valid order of court.

“As it stands today, only a higher court can set aside Justice Obomanu’s order which the Court of Appeal ruling delivered by Justice Elfreda Williams-Dawodu has rightfully sustained.”

According to him, the congresses held on November 23 and November 30, 2024, had been invalidated and could no longer form the basis for any legitimate action in the party.

He added, “For posterity’s sake, there are only two possible scenarios that can play out – (i) the Courts order fresh congresses in Rivers State to mitigate injuries suffered by the plaintiffs to Suit No. PHC/3859/CS/2024; (ii) the court sees no injuries in what the APC have done and rejects the prayers of the plaintiffs.

“Whether the courts choose option A or B above, one thing is constant, and that is the fact that the Congresses of Nov 23 2024 and November 30 2024, have been buried!! What then are the consequences of the ruling of May 29 2026 to the APC in Rivers State?”

Nwauju insisted that those who acted as leaders of the party after the disputed congresses were neither elected executives nor valid caretaker committee members.

He said this was because Justice Obomanu’s ruling of December 20, 2024, had invalidated the congresses, while an earlier judgment by Justice Aprioku on August 12, 2024, had also annulled the caretaker arrangement and restored the Emeka Beke-led leadership.

He said, “Our friends laying claim to the leadership of the party were neither elected executives of the party based on Justice Obomanu’s December 20 2024 ruling, nor Caretaker Committee members of the APC based on Justice Aprioku’s August 12 2024 judgement annulling that arrangement and restoring Chief Emeka Beke’s leadership; therefore, they had no right to represent the party in whatever capacity.”

The spokesman accused some interests in the party of turning the Rivers APC into an exclusive political platform where founding members and serving lawmakers were allegedly shut out of the nomination process.

He said the party had become a place where a former state chairman, a former presidential aspirant and financier of the party, a serving female senator and serving members of the House of Representatives were controversially disqualified from participating in primaries.

According to him, even the only APC candidate who won the election for the party in the state in 2023 was not spared.

‘You Cannot Benefit From Your Stupidity’

Nwauju warned that the APC risked repeating past mistakes if the National Working Committee failed to address the crisis properly.

He referred to the 2019 Supreme Court decision involving the Rivers APC, saying the party must not again ignore valid court orders.

He said, “Those bent on destroying the foundation of APC in Rivers State and wearing it a strange baptismal name, are doing so on a daily basis recklessly and lawlessly with a malicious intent to engineer the party into an irredeemable path to ancient Golgotha and avoidable political Hormuz Strait.

“If all of us agree that we should return this matter to the High Court to start afresh, the Congresses have already been dismantled and buried and like APC was told on 12th February 2019 by the Supreme Court of Nigeria for disobeying the order issued by Justice Chiwendu Nworgu of the Rivers State High Court, ‘you cannot benefit from your stupidity’.”

He maintained that actions taken by the disputed leadership could not stand in law.

Nwauju stated, “All nominations, representations, communications, documentations including decisions reached on behalf of the Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress between December 20 2024 to Friday 29th May 2026, with the seal or imprimatur of members of the illegal executives, their agents, assigns or privies, is to the extent of the subsistence of the orders of Court, illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

Beke Faction Demands Withdrawal Of LG Certificates

The Beke-led faction also called on the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission to withdraw certificates of return issued to candidates who emerged from the Okocha faction during the last local government election in the state.

Nwauju said the certificates should be retrieved and issued to candidates nominated by the Beke-led executive.

He said, “The nominations of candidates made to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the August 2025 Local Government Elections on behalf of Rivers APC were made by persons unknown to law and to that extent illegal and all declarations and Certificates of Return (CoR) issued in favour of the All Progressives Congress must be retrieved and deservedly go to the duly nominated chairmen and vice chairmen communicated to RSIEC on August 14 2025 by the Chief Emeka Beke led executives.”

Candidates backed by the Okocha faction are currently said to be running the affairs of local government councils in the state.

NWC Urged To Review Primaries

The faction further urged the APC National Working Committee to review all primaries conducted in the name of the party in Rivers State.

Nwauju said this was necessary to avoid a repeat of the Zamfara APC experience, where internal party disputes cost the ruling party electoral victories.

He said, “That all primaries conducted for selection of candidates/flagbearers in the name of the APC in Rivers State be immediately reviewed by the National Working Committee to avert a repeat of the Zamfara State APC experience; that all records of activities including primaries/conventions wherein the illegal executives/impersonators participated directly or indirectly in and/or contributed to declarations/returns on behalf of the All Progressives Congress, are to the extent of the illegality of their activities, null and void and must therefore be immediately expunged from the records of the All Progressives Congress in Nigeria.”

The development has further deepened the leadership crisis in the Rivers APC, raising fresh uncertainty over the status of candidates produced by the party ahead of the 2027 elections.