2027: Eze Challenges APC Over Legality Of Kingsley Chinda’s Rivers Candidacy

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has challenged the All Progressives Congress (APC) over the legality of its Rivers State governorship candidate, Kingsley Chinda.

He questioned whether Chinda’s name was actually contained in the verified All Progressives Congress (APC) membership register validly submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Naija News reports that Eze was reacting to the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the validity of Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act, 2026, describing it as a significant judicial reaffirmation that political parties must conduct their internal electoral processes within the bounds of the law.

Section 77(5) requires that only members whose names appear in the party’s register submitted to INEC within the prescribed period may participate in the relevant party exercise, while Section 77(6) prohibits the use of a different membership register for that exercise.

In a statement made available to journalists on Friday, Eze argued that the issue before Nigerians is no longer political propaganda but strict legal compliance.

“APC cannot merely announce that its Rivers State governorship candidate, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, is qualified because the party says he registered 24 days before its primary. The critical question, he said, is whether Chinda’s name was actually contained in the verified APC membership register validly submitted to INEC within the period prescribed by Section 77 of the Electoral Act and whether every other statutory requirement relating to the nomination of APC candidates was equally satisfied.

“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.

The ADC chieftain added that the Supreme Court’s latest pronouncement must therefore be understood within the broader constitutional principle that no political party is above the law and no candidate is entitled to a nomination founded upon a process that does not satisfy the mandatory requirements of the Electoral Act.

“This is not about Kingsley Chinda as an individual. It is not even about APC as a political party. It is about whether the rule of law will govern the 2027 electoral process in Rivers State or whether political expediency will once again be allowed to supersede statutory compliance,” he said.