The Ebonyi State High Court sitting in Iboko has discharged and acquitted three executive committee members of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogudu Okwor Ward, Onicha Local Government Area, of allegations of impersonation and forgery arising from the suspension and expulsion of former PDP National Vice Chairman, South-East, Chief Ali Odefa.
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The defendants Obinna Nwachukwu, Idika Ogbonnya and Njoku Nwagwu had been arrested, arraigned and remanded in a correctional centre following a petition by Odefa in 2024.
In the petition, Odefa accused the three men of being cultists who attacked him, impersonated PDP ward executives, forged documents and purportedly suspended and expelled him from the party.
Delivering judgment at the weekend, Justice Edeh Nwali held that the allegations against the defendants were not proved and consequently discharged and acquitted them.
The court also held that the three men acted in their valid capacities as executive committee members of the PDP in Ogudu Okwor Ward when they took disciplinary action against Odefa.
The judgment comes against the background of a separate legal dispute over the validity of Odefa’s suspension from the PDP.
On September 24, 2026, the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, in Appeal No. CA/E/22/2025, upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki which had affirmed Odefa’s suspension by the ward executives.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari, JCA, the appellate court held that the decision of the lower court validating the suspension was proper, having been carried out in accordance with the provisions of the PDP Constitution, 2017, as amended.
The two proceedings, though arising from the same political dispute, addressed different legal questions.
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