A dispute over the Nigeria Democratic Congress governorship primary in Delta State has moved to the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Ejaife Omizu Odebala is asking the court to declare him the lawful winner of the party’s May 29, 2026 primary.
Odebala filed the suit against the NDC, the Independent National Electoral Commission and four other respondents.
He contends that he secured the highest number of valid votes when results from Ughelli North, Okpe and Isoko North local government areas are included.
According to his court filings, the complete tally would give him 15,454 votes against 12,015 votes for the rival candidate currently recognized in the dispute.
Those figures are claims contained in the plaintiff’s case and have not yet been judicially determined.
Odebala is asking the court to hold that the NDC cannot submit another person’s name to INEC as its governorship candidate if he was the highest-scoring aspirant.
He also wants INEC restrained from recognizing any other candidate and is seeking orders directing the party to issue him nomination documents and upload his information to the commission’s portal.
The plaintiff said the party conducted its primary in 24 of Delta’s 25 local government areas but did not complete a final state-level collation on the day of the exercise.
He alleged that results from three local governments were later excluded, reducing his total and denying him victory.
Odebala said he reached that conclusion after obtaining certified copies of local-government results and INEC’s monitoring report.
The respondents include Chris Iyavwoye, the NDC, INEC, Alice Ogba, Francis Atanomeyovwi and Ogbo Johnson.
The matter is before Justice Obiora Egwuatu and is scheduled to continue on September 7, 2026.
Until the court rules, the competing claims over the primary remain unresolved.
