A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has fixed March 17 for hearing in a suit seeking the removal of the chairmen of Port Harcourt City, Obio Akpor, and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government areas.
Presiding judge, Justice Stephen Jumbo, joined the Chairman of Obio Akpor Local Government, Gift Worlu, and 59 others as the second set of respondents in the suit filed by three members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The court directed the chairmen, vice chairmen, and councillors of the three local government areas to show cause why their elections should not be nullified.
Justice Jumbo also granted an application for substituted service filed by counsel to the claimants, Glory Chizim-Chinda, directing that court processes be served on the defendants at the PDP State Secretariat along Aba Road, Port Harcourt.
The claimants — Enyi Uchechukwu, Wisdom Kalio, and Uche Amadi — are challenging the State factional Chairman of the PDP, Aaron Chukwuemeka, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), the PDP, and the Rivers State Government over the nomination of PDP chairmen, their deputies, and councillors in the last local government elections.
They are asking the court to determine whether the Aaron Chukwuemeka-led state executive was right to conduct congresses that produced the officials after allegedly being sacked by a prior court judgment.
The claimants are also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their agents, and associates from further interfering in the internal affairs of the PDP, particularly regarding the nomination and presentation of candidates for elective positions.
