A Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has issued an interim injunction preventing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from holding its congress in the state. The order was given in response to a suit (PHC/2282/CS/2024) filed by several aggrieved party members, including Hon. David Chiinedu Omereji and Hon. Prince Solomon Eke, against the PDP and several of its national officers.
Justice Sobere Biambo, the presiding judge, ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit. He emphasized that the claimants failed to exhaust the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before seeking legal action. The judge declared the lawsuit premature and speculative, lacking substantial evidence.
The injunction bars the PDP from holding the congress, scheduled for July 27, 2024, or rescheduling it to any other date or location until the determination of the motion on notice. The court also restrained the defendants from extending the tenure of the expired state, local government, and ward executive officers of the PDP in Rivers State.
The court adjourned the case until July 19, 2024, for further proceedings on the motion on notice.