The Rivers State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has insisted that the Industrial Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa did not order the reinstatement of the sacked All Progressives Congress (APC), Council chairmen and Councillors during its sitting on Monday, July 13.
Chairman of the PDP in the State, Bro Felix Obuah, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Jerry Needam, decried the ‘falsehood being peddled by Mr Dakuku Peterside and the All Progressives Congress that the Industrial Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State ordered for the reinstatement of the sacked illegally elected APC Council Chairmen and Councillors,’ saying their position is ‘completely false, mischievous, misleading and intended to cause anarchy in the State.’
“Mr Dakuku Peterside and the APC and their uninformed supporters have deliberately or ignorantly misunderstood and misinterpreted the issue of fact and real position of the Court on the matter, saying in line with the explanations given by the Honourable Attorney-General of Rivers State, E. N. Aguma, SAN, and as it were, the Industrial Court did not make any order reinstating the sacked illegally elected APC Chairmen and Councilors, whose purported elections were duly nullified by the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.
“The APC and its illegally elected ‘chairmen’ can only seek redress at the Appellate Court, which is the Court of Appeal, and not an Industrial Court which has cordons team jurisdiction with the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.
“The PDP is again concerned about the palpable tension such misinterpretation of a purported Industrial Court ruling has generated in the State, which the Party believes was avoidable and uncalled for, as the State was beginning to properly stabilize, having some of those contentious issues laid to rest by the Court and other institutions of law,” the party chieftain said.
While urging the general public to disregard the claims by Mr Dakuku Peterside, the APC and their sketchy supporters regarding the Industrial Court ruling, Obuah called on the Chairmen and members of the 22 Local Government Caretaker Committees not to ‘panic or be swayed, but to remain focused in the discharge of their legitimate responsibilities at the various council areas in the state, insisting that the Industrial Court has not reinstated the so called APC purported elected ‘Chairmen’.’
