A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit filed by three aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the party’s factional state chairman, Aaron Chukwuemeka, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), the PDP, and the Rivers State Government.
Also listed as defendants in the suit were the chairmen, vice chairmen, and councillors of Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City, and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Areas.
The claimants, Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio, and Uche Amadi in an originating summons, asked the court to determine whether the Aaron Chukwuemeka-led state executive, whose congresses were previously nullified, could validly submit a list of candidates to RSIEC for the August 2025 local government elections.
In his judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Stephen Jumbo, dismissed the suit on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction and the claimants’ lack of locus standi to institute the case.
Justice Jumbo held that rather than seek an interpretation of the legal implications of the earlier judgment against the emergence of the Chukwuemeka-led executive, the claimants instead sought a determination on the validity of candidate submissions to RSIEC. He ruled that this effectively made the matter a pre-election case, which is statute-barred.
The court upheld the preliminary objections raised by the defendants and consequently dismissed the suit.
Additionally, the court awarded costs of N10 million against the claimants in favour of the defendants.
