A legal action has been instituted at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt seeking to declare the All Progressives Congress ineligible to field a candidate in the upcoming 2027 governorship election in Rivers State. The lawsuit, designated as suit number FHC/PH/CS/193/2026, also requests an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to remove the party and its nominated candidate from the official ballot for the election scheduled for February 6, 2027.
The suit was brought forward by the Peoples Redemption Party and its gubernatorial candidate, Hon. Kieghe Nature Dumale, who named INEC as the first defendant and the APC as the second defendant. In an accompanying affidavit, Dumale argued that recent Supreme Court rulings regarding the Electoral Act have empowered electoral authorities to strictly enforce compliance with statutory provisions governing political party membership registers and primary elections.
The plaintiffs contend that the APC failed to meet mandatory statutory timelines when submitting its membership register to the electoral commission ahead of its primaries. According to the court filings, the party's submitted membership document for Ward 3B in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area allegedly does not contain the name of the nominated governorship candidate, Chinda Kingsley Ogundu, who purportedly registered after the initial submission date and was also listed on another political party's register.
Legal representatives for the plaintiffs are asking the court for a formal declaration barring the APC from the race and an injunction directing INEC to update the candidate list accordingly. Judicial authorities have yet to announce a specific date for the commencement of hearings on the matter.
Source reporting: Vanguard — 2026-10-28 18:41:42
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