A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered the Obio-Akpor Local Government Council, Port Harcourt City Local Government and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Council, alongside their vice chairmen and councillors, to appear before it and show cause why their elections should not be nullified.
Justice Stephen Jumbo issued the order after granting an application to join the Chairman of Obio-Akpor LGA, Gift Worlu, and 59 others as a second set of respondents in a suit filed by three stakeholders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State.
The judge adjourned the matter to March 17, 2026, for hearing and granted an application for substituted service filed by counsel to the claimants, Glory Chizim-Chinda. The court directed that the processes be served on the defendants at the PDP State Secretariat on Aba Road, Port Harcourt.
The claimants, Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio and Uche Amadi are challenging the State factional Chairman of the PDP, Aaron Chukwuemeka, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), the PDP and the Rivers State Government over the nomination of PDP chairmen, vice chairmen and councillors for the August 30, 2025 local government elections.
In the originating summons, the claimants are asking the court to determine whether the Aaron Chukwuemeka-led state executive, whose congresses that produced him were allegedly nullified by a High Court judgment, could validly submit a list of candidates to RSIEC for the council elections.
They are also seeking a determination on whether the PDP presented a valid list of candidates to RSIEC through Chukwuemeka, thereby enabling the candidates to participate in the August 30, 2025 polls.
Among other reliefs, the claimants are asking the court to declare that the PDP’s ward, local government and state elective congresses conducted on July 27 and August 10, 2024, are a nullity, having been set aside by the High Court.
They contend that Chukwuemeka, being a product of the nullified congresses, lacked the competence to conduct party primaries or submit any list of candidates.
The claimants are also seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents or privies from further interfering in the internal affairs of the PDP concerning the nomination and presentation of candidates for elective positions.
The case is expected to test the validity of the PDP’s participation in the last local government elections in the state.
