Rivers Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Election of Three PDP Council Chairmen

Published: June 4, 2026 6:17 am (WAT)

Author: Gist Correspondent

The Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit seeking to invalidate the emergence of chairmanship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in three local government areas during the last council elections in the state.

The suit, instituted by three PDP members—Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio and Uche Amadi—sought to nullify the candidacies and subsequent elections of the chairmen of Port Harcourt City, Obio-Akpor and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government areas.

The affected chairmen are Allwell Ihunda of Port Harcourt City, Dr Gift Worlu of Obio-Akpor and Chukwu Ogbodo of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni. Also joined in the suit were their deputies, councillors and other officials who emerged under the Chukwuemeka-led PDP State Executive Committee.

The claimants asked the court to determine whether the Chukwuemeka-led executive committee had the legal authority to submit the names of PDP candidates to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for the August 2025 local government elections, citing an earlier court judgment that allegedly affected the committee’s legitimacy.

Delivering judgment, Justice Stephen Jumbo dismissed the suit, holding that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

The judge further ruled that the claimants lacked the locus standi, or legal standing, to institute the action.

Justice Jumbo observed that the plaintiffs failed to seek an interpretation of the earlier judgment delivered against the Chukwuemeka-led executive committee and instead framed their reliefs around issues relating to candidate nomination.

According to the court, the request to determine the validity of the submission of candidate\\\'s names to RSIEC amounted to a pre-election matter, which had become statute-barred and therefore rendered the suit incompetent.

After upholding the preliminary objections raised by the defendants, the court dismissed the case in its entirety.

Justice Jumbo also awarded costs of N10 million against the claimants in favour of all the defendants.