The Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit filed by three aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party seeking to nullify the emergence of the party’s chairmanship candidates in the last local government elections in the state.
The suit sought to remove the incumbent chairmen of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, Allwell Ihunda; Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Dr Gift Worlu; and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area, Chukwu Ogbodo.
The PDP had won the local government elections in the three councils.
The claimants, Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio and Uche Amadi, filed the action against the Rivers State Chairman of the PDP, Aaron Chukwuemeka, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission and the Rivers State Government.
Also joined as defendants were the affected chairmen, their deputies and councillors, who emerged as candidates under the Aaron Chukwuemeka-led PDP State Executive Committee.
In their originating summons, the claimants asked the court to determine whether the Chukwuemeka-led state executive committee could validly submit the list of PDP candidates to RSIEC for the August 2025 local government elections in view of an earlier judgment of the Rivers State High Court delivered against the emergence of the executive committee.
They argued that the affected chairmen, deputies and councillors were products of a party structure whose legitimacy had been questioned by the court.
Delivering judgment, Justice Stephen Jumbo dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
The court also held that the claimants lacked the locus standi to institute the action.
Justice Jumbo wondered why the claimants failed to specifically ask the court to interpret the earlier judgment delivered against the Chukwuemeka-led executive committee and determine its legal effect on the submission of candidates for the local government elections.
The dismissal means that the chairmen of Port Harcourt City, Obio-Akpor and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government areas remain in office.
The judgment also leaves intact, for now, the candidates and elected officials who emerged from the PDP structure led by Chukwuemeka during the disputed local government election process.
