Politics
Court Dismisses Rivers PDP Members’ Suit Over LG Election Candidates
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit instituted by three members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the role of the party’s state leadership in relation to the conduct of the 2025 local government elections.
The judgment was delivered by Justice Stephen Jumbo in Port Harcourt, Wednesday June 3, 2026.
The Court held that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter and further ruled that the claimants lacked the locus standi to institute the action.
The suit was filed by Messrs. Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio and Uche Amadi against the factional Chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, Mr Aaron Chukwuemeka, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), the PDP and the Rivers State Government.
Also joined as defendants were the Chairmen, Vice Chairmen and Councillors of Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas.
In the originating summons before the court, the claimants sought, among other reliefs, a determination of whether the Aaron Chukwuemeka-led state executive committee of the PDP could validly submit a list of candidates to RSIEC for the August 2025 local government elections.
The claimants anchored their case on an earlier judgment of the Rivers State High Court, which they argued had nullified the congresses that produced the state executive led by Mr Chukwuemeka.
They urged the court to interpret the legal implications of the earlier judgment and determine whether actions taken by the state executive in relation to the local government election process were valid.
However, Justice Jumbo held that rather than seeking a straightforward interpretation of the previous judgment, the claimants had invited the court to determine the validity of the submission of candidates by the first defendant to RSIEC.
The court noted that the reliefs sought by the claimants effectively converted the matter into a pre-election dispute, which falls within a distinct legal framework and is subject to statutory limitations.
According to the judge, the action was statute-barred in nature, thereby depriving the court of the jurisdiction required to adjudicate on the substantive issues raised in the suit.
The court consequently upheld all the preliminary objections filed by the defendants and agreed with their arguments challenging the competence of the action.
Having resolved the issues of jurisdiction and locus standi against the claimants, the court dismissed the suit in its entirety and awarded costs of N10 million against the claimants in favour of all the defendants.
By: King Onunwor