The Supreme Court has shifted hearing to April 4 in the multiple appeals bordering on the protracted intra-party dispute among the Rivers State factional chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Meanwhile, the apex court ‎has ordered service of all the processes relating to the appeals on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the next hearing date.
The four pending appeals are an offshoot of interlocutory appeals against some decision of the lower courts relating to the party crisis.
A seven-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Ibrahim Muhammad adjourned to April 4 after addressing some preliminary issues on the appeals on Monday.
The first of the appeals, marked: SC/ 1972019 was filed by Magnus Abe and some others, with APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) listed among the respondents.
The court granted the motion by the APC, represented by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN) for permission to merge the different respondents’ briefs, earlier filed by the 2nd to the 35th respondents, into a single brief.
It rejected a similar motion filed by the appellants’ lawyer, Henry Bello, for leave (permission) to amend the notice of appeal.
The court said the motion was defective because Bello failed to attach the old notice of appeal to the motion, as required.
Besides, the court noted that the lawyer only attached his proposed amended notice of appeal.
It adjourned to April 4 for hearing, before which the appellants were to, within 48 hours, file their reply to the respondents’ brief of argument.
The other appeals are:Â SC 295/ 20019, filed by APC, with PDP listed among respondents; SC266, filed by APC, with Magnus Abe and others as respondents and SC/267/2019 filed by Tonye Patrick Cole, with Magnus Abe and 48 others as respondents.
The three appeals were adjourned to April 4 to allow the formal service of hearing notices and all other processes on INEC, which was not represented on Monday.
Other members of the seven-man panel of the Supreme Court are: Justices Olukayode Ariwoola, Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, Amiru Sanusi, Paul Galinje, Amina Augie, and Uwani Musa Abba Aji.
