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He said it was wrong for Ogbobula to have presented himself for the inauguration on Friday, knowing that there were pending court cases on the issue. He also said he had already drawn the attention of the national leadership of the party to lingering court cases.
Aguma said this in a statement on Friday in reaction to the inauguration of Ogbobula, by his media aide, Livingstone Wechie. But his statement has been countered by Mr Ogbonna Nwuke, spokesman of the Ogbobula group.
Nwuke said in a telephone interview on Friday that Aguma was a PDP member who was on a mission in the APC and that the national leadership of the party had already settled the leadership issue in the state, with the inauguration of Ogbobula.
Aguma, in his statement said inter alia: “The purported swearing in today, particularly the presentation of Mr. Isaac Ogbobula by himself for same to the National Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress APC for inauguration is a mindless affront on the Nigerian Judiciary and a gross misconduct unbecoming of a legal Practitioner.
“This is unfortunately so because Isaac Ogbobula being a lawyer knows better that his action today is a subject matter of several Appeals at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court respectively wherein the res or subject matter touches mainly on the subsisting judgement of the Court that not only dissolved his Appointment as Caretaker Chairman but declared Rt. Hon. Igo Aguma the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in Rivers state.
“For the records, it is important to state that Rt. Hon. Igo Aguma is still the Acting/Caretaker Committee Chairman of APC in Rivers state as the judgement of the Court which declared him the legitimate Chairman of the Rivers state chapter is still very much alive and has not been upturned by a Superior Court.
“For the benefit of doubt and for better knowledge, our legal team led by Emeka Etiaba SAN has written a letter dated and submitted to the APC Acting National Chairman on December 10, 2020 titled “The Need for Status Quo to be Maintained Pending The Determination of the Pending Cases Bothering on the Caretaker Committee of the Rivers state Executive of the Party”, bringing this fact to the attention of the National Caretaker Chairman.
“No doubt, the constitution of Isaac Ogbobula who in defiance to a judgement of Court and subsisting Appeals at the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court presented himself for inauguration as Caretaker Committee of APC Rivers knowing the consequences of his action, is illegal, desperately ambitious, contemptuous and subjudice. His purported swearing-in is standing on nothing and does not exist because our Party which professes respect for the rule of Law knows that this respect must be whole and not selective.
“We therefore urge all our Party faithful in Rivers state to remain resilient and steadfast in the face of destructive tendencies by some dissidents in our midst, knowing that our Party will rebound soon because Rt. Hon. Igo Aguma and the entire members of the Caretaker Committee consisting of all Statutory members of the Party are committed ensure justice and our common good and not that of any one man or godfather.”
But Nwuke, a former commissioner in the state said Aguma should forget about the office because he had no legal reason to hold on to the leadership of the party in the state.