Postpone Elections, Rivers APC Tells INEC

The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to postpone elections in the state.

This is coming on the heels of the dismissal of the joinder application of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Ali GumelAli Gumel, by the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State yesterday in the case between the All Progressives Congress, APC, factions of Tonye Cole and Sen. Magnus Abe and 42 other candidates over earlier Federal High Court ruling.

The three man appeal panel led by Justice Ali Gumel, in dismissing the application, held that the party seeking to be joined failed to provide sufficient legal interest in the matter it wished to join.

INEC had disqualified the APC from contesting the election over the crisis which affected its primaries.

There are two factions of the party in the state. One led by Chubuike Amaechi, Minister of Transportation while Magnus Abe, a serving senator, leads the other faction.

Tonye Princewill, director of strategic communications for the campaign of Tonye Cole, guber candidate of the Amaechi faction, said conducting the election without the APC will be “an exercise in futility”.

He said giving the APC candidates an extension of time to go about their campaigns was necessary because of the “disruption by the legal tussle.”