Rivers State High Court Port Harcourt has thrown out a lawsuit filed by three aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP against the party’s former factional chairman, Aaron Chukwuemeka, and the Rivers State Government.
The suit, which also dragged the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC and the leadership of three local government areas to court, challenged the validity of the nomination of chairmanship candidates for the council elections.
The claimants, Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio, and Uche Amadi, wanted the court to disqualify the list of candidates submitted by the Chukwuemeka-led executive, arguing that a previous judgement had nullified their party congresses.
However, trial Judge, Stephen Jumbo dismissed the case, ruling that the claimants lacked the legal standing to sue and that the court lacked jurisdiction.
Justice Jumbo declared the suit statute-barred, noting that it was filed way past the legally permitted deadline.
The court also ruled that the matter was strictly a pre-election dispute rather than a request for legal interpretation.
Upholding the preliminary objections raised by the defense, Justice Jumbo struck out the case in its entirety. The court subsequently ordered the three claimants to pay N10 million in costs to the defendants.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
