The Peoples Redemption Party and its governorship candidate, Kieghe Nature Dumale, have filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt seeking an order to prevent the All Progressives Congress from contesting the Rivers State governorship election scheduled for 6 February 2027.
The action, marked FHC/PH/CS/193/2026, names the Independent National Electoral Commission as the first defendant and the APC as the second defendant. The plaintiffs ask the court to declare that the APC is not eligible to field a governorship candidate in Rivers State and to direct INEC to remove the party and its candidate from the list of eligible contestants.
An eighteen paragraph affidavit deposed by Dumale alleges that the APC failed to comply with the requirements of Section 77(5) to (7) of the Electoral Act 2026 concerning the submission and use of party membership registers. The plaintiffs rely on the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on 24 September 2026 in Appeal No. SC/CV/495/2026 between INEC and the Zenith Labour Party. That ruling upheld the constitutionality of the disputed provisions and affirmed INEC’s duty to ensure compliance before political parties may validly nominate candidates.
According to the affidavit, the APC notified INEC by letter dated 20 April 2026 that its primaries would commence on 15 May and submitted its membership register on the same day. An extract of the register for Ward 3B in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, tendered as Exhibit E, is said not to contain the name of the APC’s nominated candidate, Chinda Kingsley Ogundu. The last recorded member on that register is identified as Ibrahim Haruna, who registered on 8 February 2026.
The plaintiffs further allege that Chinda registered as an APC member on 27 April 2026, after the register had already been submitted to INEC, and that he was later presented as the winner of the party’s governorship primary held on 21 May 2026. They also tendered a temporary APC membership slip submitted with his nomination forms and an extract from a Peoples Democratic Party membership register in which Chinda’s name appears.
The suit contends that INEC should have examined the APC’s records against the statutory requirements and the Supreme Court judgment before publishing its final list of candidates. An INEC statement of 13 October indicated that the commission had applied the Supreme Court decision and excluded parties that failed to comply with Section 77(5) to (7), yet the APC and its candidate were included on the published list for Rivers State.
The plaintiffs are represented by a legal team led by Dr Doueyi Fiderikumo. No hearing date has yet been fixed. The claims contained in the affidavit remain allegations and have not been tested or determined by the court.
By A.Ikechukwu
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