Court disqualifies Rivers Labour Party National Assembly candidates

Three National Assembly candidates of the Labour Party in Rivers State have been disqualified by a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.

The candidates disqualified include Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt City 1 and Port Harcourt City 2 Federal constituencies.

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the State had gone to court arguing that the LP did not comply with the new Electoral Act in their selection of candidates.

PDP had pleaded with the court to void the primary in which the trio were elected and direct the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to disqualify the candidates.

Justice Stephen Daylop-Pam, the Presiding Judge, in his judgment, concurred with the originating summon of the PDP that challenged the competence of the Labour Party to nominate candidates in the primary election in which INEC did not monitor.

The Judge also ruled that PDP proved that INEC did not monitor the primary election of the affected constituencies. He therefore, ordered INEC not to recognise the affected candidates for the 2023 general election.

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