The Ezinihitte Progressives have welcomed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered on Wednesday, September 24, 2026.
The Ezinihitte Progressives said in a statement issued by the Convener, Aic Akwarandu, that the judgement effectively ended Hon. Emeka Chinedu’s ambition to remain as Ahiazu/Ezinihitte federal constituency representative after serving two terms.
“We commend the Apex Court for its unanimous, courageous, and principled decision which has finally closed the ‘late defection’ loophole.
“The Court has reaffirmed that an aspirant cannot participate in the primaries of one political party, lose, and then defect to another party to procure its ticket for the same election cycle,” the Ezinihitte Progressives said.
Giving a background, the group said Hon. Emeka Chinedu was elected as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency and served two consecutive tenures, following his elections in 2019 and 2023.
“He remained in the PDP until early 2026 when he defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, to seek a third term for the same seat.
“Information available to us confirms that APC delegates rejected his candidature because it violated the long-standing zoning arrangement mutually agreed upon by Ahiazu and Ezinihitte Local Government Areas.
“Having failed to secure the APC ticket, Hon. Chinedu clandestinely made moves to the African Democratic Congress, ADC, where he sought to leverage alleged connections to secure its ticket.
“The ADC, in wisdom, declined to sacrifice the historic brotherly relationship between Ndi Ahiazu and Ndi Ezinihitte, and most importantly for the sole face that they had already concluded their primaries successfully, produced candidates, and were on the move for campaigns.
“However, Hon. Emeka Chinedu proceeded to the Young Progressives Party (YPP) to procure what can only be described as a black-market ticket. That ticket has now been invalidated by the Supreme Court,” the Ezinihitte Progressuves said.
According to Ezinihitte Progressives, the judgment of the Supreme Court is anchored on the clear and unambiguous provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
“Section 77(6) and 77(7) of the Electoral Act, 2026, provides that every political party shall submit its membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not later than 21 days before its primaries. Section 77(7) further prohibits a party from using any secondary, updated, or alternative register for nomination.
“A candidate whose name was not on the original register submitted to INEC cannot be validly nominated.
“Section 82(9) and Section 84(1) of the Act provide that only a registered member of a political party who is captured in the party’s register submitted to INEC can validly contest its primaries.
“Section 84(13) and Section 77(6) stipulate that any nomination made in breach of these provisions is a nullity. Where a party nominates a candidate whose name was missing from the original register, the party risks total disqualification from fielding any candidate for that elective position.”
The Ezinihitte Progressives said the implications of the Supreme Court judgement for the Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency and Hon. Emeka Chinedu’s candidature are quite glaring.
“Relating the judgment to the issue in question, what Supreme Court said in its wisdom, is that as of the time YPP submitted its statutory register to INEC, Hon. Emeka Chinedu was still shuttling between the PDP and the APC.
“He could not, therefore, have been a valid, registered member of the YPP.
“To have been a member of YPP at that material time while still holding membership of another party would itself constitute a violation of Section 77(3), which prohibits dual membership.
“Consequently, the Apex court’s decision means that his candidature is a nullity and of no legal effect whatsoever,” the Ezinihitte Progressives explained.
The Ezinihitte Progressives declared that, based on the judgement of the Supreme Court, Ezinihitte has no candidate on the ballot for the 2027 Federal House of Representatives election for Ahiazu/Ezinihitte.
The group urged Ezinihitte people supporting Hon. Emeka Chinedu in his bid to go for a third term as Representative of Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Federal Constituency to respect the Supreme Court judgement and advise him rightly.
“We advise Hon. Emeka Chinedu to redirect those resources towards empowering the good people of Ahiazu and Ezinihitte who elected him twice, in 2019 and 2023, with hope and great expectations, and to honourably step aside from the race to avoid further public disgrace.
“The era of impunity and party-hopping is over,” the Ezinihitte Progressices said.
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