Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has sued state House of Assembly candidates of Accord Party for alleged non-compliance with electoral guidelines during party primaries.

The PDP had earlier sued the party and its National Assembly candidates.

Justice Adamu Turaki Mohammed of Federal High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, adjourned the matter till September 23 after listening to arguments by the plaintiff and defendants on whether there was proper service on the defendants.

Speaking outside the courtroom, counsel for the third to 27th defendants (Accord State House of Assembly candidates) Abiodun Owonikoko, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), noted that the record of the court indicated that an order of service was made but there were issues concerning service of summons on them.

“In the next adjourned date, we will have our appropriate response. The defendants are actually candidates for state House of Assembly in Rivers State.”

Abdulameed Mohammed (SAN), counsel for AP, said: “This is a suit that is very unusual by a political party called PDP challenging the primaries of another political party, Accord.

“We’ve looked at the processes. We are objecting to the jurisdiction of the court. The competence of the suit and the competence of the court to entertain the suit,” he added.

Dike Udenna, counsel for PDP, said the crux of the matter was that the primary conducted by Accord was not in compliance with electoral guidelines as the elections for the state House of Assembly did not hold in the respective constituency but was held in one venue. (The Guardian)