A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) to establish the legality of its candidates for the 2027 elections in Rivers State following the recent Supreme Court judgment on political party membership registers and nomination procedures.
Eze, in a statement made available to journalists, particularly questioned the eligibility of the APC governorship candidate, Rt. Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda, urging the party to produce the documentary records supporting his nomination.
The Supreme Court, in its September 24, 2026 judgment, restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, provisions relating to political party membership registers and candidate nomination processes.
Eze said the judgment makes it necessary for the APC to demonstrate that its Rivers State nomination process complied with the applicable electoral provisions, particularly whether Chinda’s name appeared in the party’s membership register validly submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the prescribed period.
“The Supreme Court has spoken. What remains is compliance. The APC cannot substitute political assertions for documentary evidence. If the party insists that its Rivers candidates are validly nominated, let it place before INEC and, where necessary, the courts, the very documents upon which the legality of those nominations rests,” he said.
Chinda emerged as the APC governorship candidate after the party’s primary in Rivers State. His eligibility has subsequently become the subject of legal and political debate.
Eze stressed that his position was not a personal attack on Chinda but a call for the nomination process to be tested against the applicable electoral requirements.
“This is not about Kingsley Chinda as an individual. It is not even about APC as a political party. It is about whether the 2027 electoral process in Rivers State will be conducted in accordance with the law,” he said.
He called on INEC to verify the relevant APC membership and nomination records and apply the same standard to every political party.
“If the answer is yes, let the documentary records establish it. If the answer is no, then the law must take its course. There should be no special exemption for APC, PDP, ADC or any other political party,” Eze stated.
The ADC chieftain also cautioned against turning the Rivers governorship contest into an ethnic or senatorial struggle, arguing that every Rivers citizen who meets the constitutional requirements should be free to seek elective office.
“Rivers State is not the private estate of Wike, Chinda or anybody else. It belongs to all Rivers people. The Constitution does not establish an Ikwerre State, an Ijaw State, an Ogoni State or an Etche State; it establishes Rivers State. Political power must therefore be contested on the basis of law and the freely expressed will of the electorate,” he said.
Eze urged political actors to pursue disputes through lawful institutions, saying the credibility of the 2027 election would depend on the integrity of the processes leading to the ballot as well as the conduct of the election itself.
He concluded that Rivers State deserved an electoral process in which the relevant constitutional and electoral provisions are observed and voters are ultimately allowed to determine who governs the state.
