The Legal Adviser of the South-South zone of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Chukwuemeke Ogbuobodo, and other zonal officers have berated the suspension of the Minister of State (Petroleum) Heineken Lokpobiri by the party’s executive in his local government in Bayelsa State.
In a statement, Ogbuobodo said the South-South zonal officers of the ruling party rejected the purported suspension of the Minister, describing the action as illegal, null and void, contending that the local government area executive cannot be a judge in its matter.
Ogbuobodo referred the local government council party executive and “whoever that is sponsoring it, to see article 21.3 (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (a) (b) (c) (d) and (e) of the party’s Constitution and see the procedure for hearing and determination of complaints or allegations.”
He also warned the local council executive that they are not above the law and not to see any other person as beneath it; “APC is not a party for supermen but a party guided by rules of law.
Recall that the APC in Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor local government areas in separate press briefings had last week purportedly suspended Lokpobiri and the 2019 gubernatorial candidate of the party in Bayelsa State, David Lyon.
But Ogbuobodo warned the persons behind the purported suspensions to be mindful that the entire executives in the state were invalidated by the decision of the Bayelsa State High Court in Suit No YHC/16/2022.
“As a consequence, the decision by the so-called LG Executive of APC is unknown to both the party’s Constitution and the laws of the land.”
He stated that to avoid this kind of unwholesome intervention by imposters in the affairs of the party in Bayelsa State given the current vacuum created by the judgment of the High Court of Bayelsa State in suit no. YHC/16/2022 and as a law-abiding entity, party chieftains in the South-South zone would now move swiftly to get the APC National Working Committee, NWC to appoint a caretaker committee to help oversee the party’s activities in the state in the interim pending the election of a substantive state executive.