Court orders INEC, National Assembly to produce documents in Chinda defection suit

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the National Assembly to provide relevant documents concerning the defection of APC governorship candidate Kingsley Ogundu-Chinda from the PDP to the APC. The order came after plaintiff Samuel Amatonjie applied for certified true copies of the APC membership register submitted to INEC and a letter notifying the commission of the party's planned primaries.

Additionally, the court issued subpoenas to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the National Assembly, requesting certified copies of the House of Representatives Hansard covering April 2026 to June 2, 2026. These documents are crucial to Amatonjie's case, which questions Ogundu-Chinda's eligibility as the APC governorship candidate following his defection from the PDP.

During the hearing on Wednesday, Amatonjie explained the significance of the documents to his case, leading to the court's decision to grant the applications. However, counsel for the PDP and Ogundu-Chinda, Paul Daudu and Dike Udenna, raised concerns about the late service of the plaintiff's response to their preliminary objection challenging the court's jurisdiction.

They requested additional time to review the response and file their replies. Following their concerns, Justice Muhammed Turaki directed all parties to file and exchange the necessary court processes before rescheduling the case for hearing on December 10, 2026. Amatonjie sought an interpretation of Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to determine whether Ogundu-Chinda's defection from the PDP to the APC is valid as of May 9, 2026.

PDP counsel Daudu explained that his team requested an adjournment because they had filed an objection of jurisdiction on September 29th, which was only served to them yesterday. He also mentioned that his team needed time to study the plaintiff's response and file their own.