Chukwuemeke Ogbuobodo, the All Progressives Congress’s (APC) South-South Zonal Legal Advisor, and other zonal officers have strongly denounced the party’s local government executive in Bayelsa State’s decision to suspend Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum. The suspension was declared unlawful, void, and null and void by Ogbuobodo in a statement issued yesterday.
Ogbuobodo emphasized that the party leadership of the local government does not have the power to judge its members and urged them to read Article 21.3 of the APC Constitution, which describes the correct processes for handling accusations and complaints. He emphasized that the local council executive should not think of themselves as superior to others and that the APC operates under a rule of law.
The controversy started when APC officials in the local government districts of Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor claimed in statements released last week that Lokpobiri and David Lyon, the party’s nominee for governor of Bayelsa State in 2019, had been suspended. However, Ogbuobodo questioned the validity of the state’s executive committee’s decision to suspend the minister, pointing out that a Bayelsa State High Court ruling disqualified the entire committee.
“Neither the party’s Constitution nor the laws of the land are aware of the decision made by the so-called LG Executive of the APC,” he said. In order to solve this problem, he demanded that the APC National Working Committee form a caretaker committee to supervise party operations in Bayelsa State until a new leadership could be chosen.
Ogbuobodo called the alleged suspension an attempt by some to cause chaos inside the APC’s Bayelsa chapter and encouraged party members and the public to ignore it. He expressed trust in Lokpobiri’s talents as a minister and praised him for his important contributions to the achievements of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Ogbuobodo finished by denouncing the illegal suspension and urging party members to oppose such acts, saying, “The action of these individuals was borne out of envy and a wicked plot to destabilize APC in Bayelsa State and the South-South Zone.”
