A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has adjourned proceedings to April 14, 2026, for the hearing of all pending applications and motions in a suit filed by three aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party challenging the validity of the party’s candidates in the Rivers State local government elections held on August 30, 2025.
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The suit, which targets PDP-backed winners in at least three local government areas, raises fundamental questions about whether a factional state executive committee whose emergence was previously nullified by a court judgment had the legal authority to submit candidates to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission for the polls.
The case adds yet another layer of litigation to the already complex political landscape in Rivers State, where PDP factional disputes, court orders, and contested congresses have created a web of legal challenges that continue to generate uncertainty over the legitimacy of party structures and the elected officials who emerged through them.
The suit was filed by three PDP members — Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio, and Uche Amadi — who are seeking court declarations on two principal issues.
First, they want the court to determine whether the factional state executive committee led by Aaron Chukwuemeka — whose emergence through party congresses was previously nullified by a court judgment — had the legal authority to submit a list of candidates to RSIEC for the August 2025 local government elections.
Second, they are asking the court to determine whether the PDP validly nominated candidates through that leadership structure for the council elections.
If the court finds that Chukwuemeka’s executive lacked legal authority to act on behalf of the party, the consequences could be far-reaching, potentially invalidating the candidacies and elections of PDP council chairmen, vice chairmen, and councillors across the affected local government areas.
The defendants in the suit include Aaron Chukwuemeka in his capacity as the factional PDP state chairman, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, the PDP itself, the Rivers State Government, and the chairmen, vice chairmen, and councillors of three local government areas — Obio-Akpor, Port Harcourt City, and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni.
The inclusion of the sitting council officials as defendants means that the case directly threatens the tenure of elected local government officials who are currently serving in office based on their emergence as PDP candidates in the August 2025 elections.
At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, counsel representing the PDP and the affected local government councils — including several Senior Advocates of Nigeria — informed the court that they were only served with the originating processes on March 13, 2026. They requested additional time to file responses and address the points of law raised by the claimants.
The claimants’ counsel, Glory Chizim-Chinda, did not oppose the adjournment request, signalling a willingness to allow the defendants adequate time to prepare their responses.
Presiding Justice Stephen Jumbo granted the adjournment, fixing April 14, 2026, for the hearing of all pending motions, possible rulings on them, and steps toward addressing the substantive issues in the case.
The case stems from the deep and persistent factional disputes within the Rivers State PDP that have defined the state’s political landscape for the past two years.
The party in Rivers State has been divided between factions loyal to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and those aligned with other power centres within the PDP. The divisions led to rival congresses, competing state executive committees, and multiple court actions challenging the legitimacy of party structures at every level.
Prior court rulings nullified certain party congresses held in 2024 that produced Chukwuemeka’s leadership, raising questions about the legal standing of every action taken by that executive — including the nomination of candidates for the August 2025 local government elections.
The claimants’ case essentially argues that if the court has already determined that the congresses that produced Chukwuemeka’s executive were invalid, then every subsequent act of that executive — including the submission of candidate lists to RSIEC — is equally void, and the candidates who emerged through that process have no legal basis for holding office.
If the court upholds the claimants’ arguments, the consequences could include the nullification of the elections of PDP chairmen, vice chairmen, and councillors in Obio-Akpor, Port Harcourt City, and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas, and potentially in other LGAs if similar challenges are filed.
Such a ruling would create a governance vacuum at the local government level in some of Rivers State’s most politically significant areas, including Obio-Akpor — which encompasses much of the Greater Port Harcourt area and is one of the most populous local governments in Nigeria — and Port Harcourt City, the state capital.
The case also has broader implications for the PDP’s national crisis, as it demonstrates how the party’s unresolved leadership disputes at the national level cascade down to affect structures, candidacies, and election outcomes at the state and local government levels.
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