Rivers APC Crisis Deepens as Reinstated Leadership Voids Chinda, Others’ Nominations

Following the Court of Appeal judgment delivered by the Port Harcourt Division, which upheld an earlier Rivers State High Court ruling nullifying the congresses that produced Chief Tony Okocha as chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, the reinstated leadership of the party has declared all nominations arising from the recently concluded party primaries invalid.

Justice Elfreida Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu, in a unanimous judgment delivered on Friday, May 29, 2026, affirmed the High Court decision that nullified the congresses responsible for Okocha’s emergence as APC chairman in the state.
Consequently, the reinstated APC leadership in Rivers State announced that all nominations made during the party’s primaries are null and void.
The primaries had produced Kingsley Chinda, a close ally of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, as the party’s governorship candidate. Several other allies of the former Rivers governor also emerged as APC candidates for the 2027 National Assembly and State Assembly elections.
In a statement issued on Monday, the State Publicity Secretary of the reinstated APC State Working Committee led by Chief Emeka Beke, Darlington Nwauju, said that based on the Appeal Court judgment, all nominations, representations, communications, documentations and decisions made on behalf of the Rivers APC between December 20, 2024, and May 29, 2026, have no legal effect on the party.
The party also called on the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) to withdraw Certificates of Return issued to candidates produced by the Okocha-led faction after the 2025 local government elections and instead issue them to candidates recognized by the legally acknowledged party leadership in line with the court ruling.
The candidates produced by the Okocha-led faction are presently administering the local government councils in the state.
According to Nwauju, Justice Obomanu acted courageously in defending the integrity of the judiciary and the rule of law by nullifying congresses allegedly conducted in Rivers State by APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje in defiance of an existing court order.
He maintained that only a higher court could overturn Justice Obomanu’s decision, which has now been affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Nwauju stated that only two outcomes remain possible: either the courts order fresh congresses in Rivers State to address the grievances of the plaintiffs in Suit No. PHC/3859/CS/2024, or the courts dismiss the claims and uphold the party’s actions. Regardless of the outcome, he stressed that the congresses conducted on November 23 and November 30, 2024, have effectively been nullified.
He further argued that members of the Okocha-led group were neither validly elected party executives under Justice Obomanu’s December 20, 2024 judgment nor recognized caretaker committee members following Justice Aprioku’s August 12, 2024 ruling, which restored Chief Emeka Beke’s leadership. As such, he said they lacked the authority to represent the party.
Nwauju also lamented what he described as the exclusion of key APC stakeholders in Rivers State, including former party leaders, a former presidential aspirant, a serving female senator, serving House of Representatives members, and the party’s only successful candidate in the 2023 elections, from participating in party primaries.
He accused those controlling the party structure in the state of undermining the APC’s foundation through actions he described as reckless, unlawful and politically destructive.
Referencing the Supreme Court’s February 12, 2019 judgment involving the APC in Rivers State, Nwauju said the party had previously been reminded that it could not benefit from disobeying court orders.
The APC spokesman further declared that all nominations, communications, representations, documents and decisions made on behalf of the Rivers APC between December 20, 2024, and May 29, 2026, by members of the Okocha-led executive or their associates are illegal, null and void due to the subsisting court orders.
He also stated that nominations submitted to RSIEC for the August 2025 local government elections by the Okocha-led faction were made by persons not recognized by law and were therefore invalid. He insisted that all declarations and Certificates of Return issued to APC candidates under that process should be withdrawn and reassigned to candidates nominated by the Emeka Beke-led executive and communicated to RSIEC on August 14, 2025.
Additionally, Nwauju called on the APC National Working Committee to immediately review all primaries conducted in Rivers State to prevent a recurrence of the party’s experience in Zamfara State.
He further demanded that all records of activities, primaries and conventions involving members of the Okocha-led executive be removed from the party’s official records, insisting that any actions taken by the group on behalf of the APC were unlawful and therefore invalid.