The All Progressives Congress, or APC, has come under fire from the Rivers State Government for pressing the State House of Assembly to start the impeachment process against Siminalayi Fubara, the state’s governor, as quickly as possible.

Joseph Johnson, the state’s commissioner of information and communications, clarified that the 27 members of the State House of Assembly did not have the moral authority to remove the governor from office.

The commissioner cautioned the APC lawmakers—who support Nyesom Wike, the minister of Federal Capital Terrorism—against taking on such an endeavor, emphasizing that the people of Rivers will oppose any attempt to remove the governor.

According to recent reports, Tony Okocha, the APC’s chairman of the Caretaker Committee in Rivers State, urged the State Assembly to move swiftly to begin the impeachment process of the governor during a press conference in Port Harcourt.

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Okocha claimed that the governor “has insulted the sensibility” of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who intervened to end the state’s protracted problem, and that for this reason the governor had to be removed from office.

In a swift reply, Okocha was called out by the Information and Communications Commissioner for being an illegitimate member of the APC and for lacking the moral character to discuss the state government.

The commissioner warned that attempts to remove the governor would not be simple and that the people of the state would fight such actions tooth and nail.

He declared,

The All Progressives Congress national chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, filed an application for substituted service against the APC Ganduje Ward executive members who had suspended him from the party, and a Federal High Court accepted his request.

Hadiza Nasiru Ahmad, Ganduje’s lawyer, filed the application, which was approved by Justice Abdullahi Muhammad Liman on Tuesday.

On April 15, Ganduje was suspended from the party by the ward executives, who were led by Haladu Gwanjo and eight other members, for suspected breaches.

Read also: Only NWC Can Suspend Ganduje – APC Legal Advisor

On April 18, the Federal High Court issued an interim injunction directing the parties to preserve the status quo until Ganduje’s lawsuit for the enforcement of his fundamental rights is heard and decided.

The APC national chairman is requesting a judicial declaration that the ward executives’ unconstitutional and ultra-vire suspension of him from the party amounted to a denial of his fundamental right since they prevented him from defending himself.

In addition, Ganduje is suing the respondents for N100 million in general damages, claiming they violated his right to a fair trial.

His attorney clarified that a hearing date will be set for the case following the respondents’ service of the court summons through the hamlet of Ganduje in the Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State.

On April 17, Justice Usman Na’Abba of the Kano State High Court issued a temporary ruling upholding the APC national chairman’s suspension by his APC ward executive members.

As claimed by National Legal Adviser Abdulkarim Kana, only the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has the authority to suspend the party’s National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Kana made her remarks on Monday when appearing on the Politics Today show on Channels Television.

He was responding to the contentious recent suspension of Ganduje by few factional executive committee members of his ward.

Due to allegations of corruption and other transgressions committed while Ganduje was the governor of Kano State, the two groups within the ward have suspended his membership.

The APC’s State Working Committee in Kano, however, quickly overturned the suspension and disciplined the ward executives.

In a same vein, the Federal High Court in Kano issued an ex parte order that, until the matter is heard and decided, temporarily stopped the suspension’s enforcement.

In addition to reversing the decision suspending Ganduje as the APC National Chairman, a judge on the Kano State High Court had previously upheld Ganduje’s suspension.

Kana stated on Monday that the NWC is the only party body with the authority to suspend a member.

He noted that in accordance with the party’s constitution, every procedure has to be completed before taking such action.

The National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Abdulkarim Kana, says only the party’s National Working Committee, NWC, can suspend its National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Kana spoke on Monday while being featured on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today.

He was reacting to the recent controversial suspension of Ganduje by different factional excos of his ward.

The two factions of the ward had suspended Ganduje’s membership over alleged corruption, among other offences, during his tenure as governor of Kano State.

However, the State Working Committee of the APC in Kano swiftly nullified the suspension and took disciplinary actions against the ward executives.

Similarly, a Federal High Court in Kano issued an ex parte order temporarily halting the implementation of the suspension until the case is heard and determined.

A Kano State High Court judge who earlier upheld Ganduje’s suspension also vacated the order suspending the ex-Kano governor as the National Chairman of the APC.

On Monday, Kana said no party organ has the right to suspend any member except the NWC.

He said, according to the party’s constitution, before such action could be carried out, all procedures must have been followed.

“All those procedures must be exhausted for such penalties to be imposed, but as a penalty pending completion of an investigation, no organ of the APC has the power to suspend any member pending an investigation except the national working committee,” he said.

While labelling those who suspended Ganduje as “random individuals,” he insisted that they were not members of the ruling party.

He said: “It’s a serious claim. That an organ of the party would take such a daring decision. We conducted our investigations and it didn’t take long for us to establish that the purported individuals who were said to have suspended the national chairman are not even members of the board committee of the party in Ganduje ward and are not members of any of the ward excos as we know.

“My office decided to go beyond just receiving reports from the respective organs as to the claim’s authenticity. We asked the state working committee to come along with the ward excos members to Abuja for us to interview them, and we did, to our surprise, I insisted they should come with their identity cards and their voter’s cards.

“And when they came, we matched their faces against the ID cards and their names and we discovered that those who had appeared on television, making claims that those names belong to them were not and that is how serious this matter is.

“And that was why we did not waste time bringing in the security operatives and the agencies to investigate why those individuals would make such claims,” he said.