Rivers Labour Party National Assembly candidates are disqualified by the court.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has disqualified three Labour Party National Assembly candidates in Rivers State.

Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City 1 and Port Harcourt City 2 Federal Constituencies are among those who have been disqualified.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state had gone to court, claiming that the LP did not follow the new Electoral Act in their candidate selection.

The PDP had asked the court to declare the primary in which the trio were elected null and void and to order the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to disqualify the candidates.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Stephen Daylop-Pam, agreed with the originating summons of the PDP that challenged the Labour Party’s competence to nominate candidates in the primary election that INEC did not monitor.

The Judge also ruled that the PDP established that INEC failed to monitor the primary elections in the affected constituencies. As a result, he directed INEC not to recognize the affected candidates in the general election in 2023.

Meanwhile, Uche Ollewunne, counsel for the Labour Party and the three candidates, has revealed that he would advise his clients to appeal the judgment.