A fresh leadership crisis is brewing within the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) in Rivers State following a legal challenge over the party’s candidate for the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area, (PHALGA) Constituency 1 seat in the State House of Assembly.
The party’s aspirant, Stanley Chimenem Agbirigba, has dragged the NDC, the Independent National Electoral Commission and another aspirant, Amadi Weneda Maryjane, before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt over the alleged substitution of his name on the INEC portal.
Agbirigba is challenging the appearance of Maryjane’s name on the electoral commission’s portal, insisting that he emerged as the party’s duly elected candidate at the direct primary conducted on May 29, 2026.
The primary, according to him, was conducted by the NDC National Election Committee headed by Dr Osusu Osusu, with Agbirigba securing 200 votes to emerge winner.
He alleged that despite his victory and public declaration as the party’s candidate, his name was later replaced with that of Maryjane on the INEC portal.
Speaking with our correspondent by telephone on Tuesday, Agbirigba accused some members of the party of undermining the outcome of the primary and frustrating the internal democratic process.
He said, “I won the primary election with 200 votes and the evidence is there. I was declared as the Rivers State House of Assembly candidate of the NDC for PHALGA Constituency 1. The result was announced publicly by the Chairman of the National Electoral Committee, Dr Osusu Osusu.”
Agbirigba further claimed that Maryjane, whose name allegedly appeared on the INEC portal, was not present at the primary and did not participate in the exercise.
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According to him, attempts were subsequently made to influence the electoral committee chairman to alter the result, but Osusu allegedly stood by the outcome of the primary.
He said, “Even the person whose name was uploaded on the INEC portal was not on ground on the day of the primary election. The next thing they did was to manipulate the results of the primary after I was declared by Dr Osusu Osusu.”
The aspirant called on the NDC leadership to intervene in the dispute and ensure that his name is restored as the party’s candidate on the INEC portal.
The controversy has now moved to the courts, as the suit is expected to determine whether Agbirigba remains the legitimate NDC candidate for the constituency based on the outcome of the May 29 primary.
