The Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit filed by three aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to void the party’s chairmanship candidates in the last local government elections.

The PDP won the elections in Port Harcourt City, Obio-Akpor and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni local government areas of the state.

The suit specifically sought to sack the incumbent chairmen of Port Harcourt City, Allwell Ihunda; Obio-Akpor, Dr Gift Worlu and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni, Chukwu Ogbodo.

The plaintiffs filed the suit against the State Chairman of PDP, Aaron Chukwuemeka, Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the Rivers State government.

Other defendants in the suit were the affected chairmen, their deputies and councilors, who were products of the Chukwuemeka-led PDP state executive committee of the state.

The claimants, Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio and Uche Amadi among other reliefs in their originating summon asked the court to determine wether Chukwuemeka-led state executive, could validly submit list of candidates to RSIEC for the August, 2025 LGA elections by virtue of the judgment of the Rivers State High Court delivered against their emergence.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Stephen Jumbo in his judgment dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.

He said the claimants also lacked the locus standi to file the matter.

Justice Jumbo wondered why the claimants failed to ask the court for interpretation and legal effects of the judgment delivered against Chukwuemek-led executive committee.

He said their request to determine whether the first defendant could validly submit list of candidates to RSIEC was pre-election case that had vitiated the suit making it statute barred.

The court after upholding all the preliminary objections of the defendants, dismissed the suit and further awarded the sum of N10million against the claimants in favour of all the defendants in the suit.

(The Nation)

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