Court Told to Declare APC Unfit to Contest in Rivers Governorship Election
- The Peoples Redemption Party filed a suit asking the court to declare the APC ineligible to field a candidate in the 2027 Rivers governorship election
- The case centres on whether INEC failed to apply a Supreme Court ruling that required it to exclude non-compliant parties from the February 6, 2027 poll
- INEC published a final list of candidates that included the APC, even though it said it had applied the Supreme Court judgment to exclude other parties
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A federal court in Port Harcourt has received a suit seeking to stop the All Progressives Congress (APC) from participating in the 2027 Rivers State governorship election.
The action, filed under suit number FHC/PH/CS/193/2026, was brought by the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and its governorship candidate, Hon. Kieghe Nature Dumale. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is listed as the 1st defendant, while the APC is named as the 2nd defendant.
Vanguard reported that beyond barring the APC from the race, the plaintiffs are also asking the court to direct INEC to remove the party and its candidate from the list of those approved to contest the governorship poll scheduled for February 6, 2027.
Supreme Court judgment at the centre of the case
In an 18-paragraph affidavit he personally signed, Dumale told the court that on September 24, the Supreme Court delivered judgment in Appeal No. SC/CV/495/2026 between INEC and the Zenith Labour Party. That ruling, he said, touched on the constitutionality of Section 77(5)-(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026, and confirmed INEC's authority to enforce compliance and sanction political parties under those provisions.
He said INEC Chairman Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, publicly announced that the Commission would study the judgment and work towards compliance.
According to the plaintiffs, rather than checking whether the APC had met the requirements of Section 77(5)-(7) in conducting its Rivers State governorship primary, INEC went ahead and published a final list of parties and candidates eligible for the election. The list was attached to the affidavit as Exhibit 'A'.
APC's primary timeline under scrutiny
The plaintiffs pointed to a letter dated April 20, in which the APC wrote to INEC saying its primaries for the 2027 general elections would begin on May 15. This timeline, they argued, raises questions about whether the party complied with the Electoral Act provisions that the Supreme Court upheld.
The PRP also drew the court's attention to an INEC press release dated October 13, in which the Commission said it had applied the Supreme Court ruling when drawing up the final candidate list and had excluded parties that failed to comply with Section 77(5)-(7). The plaintiffs argued that despite this stated position, INEC did not exclude the APC from the Rivers State race as it did with other parties found to be in breach of those provisions.
The suit asks the court to find that INEC acted inconsistently by excluding some parties on compliance grounds while leaving the APC on the list.
Source: Legit.ng
