The battle for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the 2027 Delta South Senatorial election has taken a legal turn as former Chairman of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC), Prince Michael Diden, popularly known as Ejele, has dragged before the Federal High Court, Abuja, challenging his emergence as the party’s candidate.
The Federal High Court on Wednesday fixed July 6, 2026, for the definite hearing of the suit after Justice Mohammed Garba Umar directed all parties to file and exchange their outstanding processes ahead of the substantive hearing.
According to the report, Diden is asking the court to declare him the authentic winner of the APC direct primary election held on May 18, 2026, insisting that he secured the highest number of lawful votes cast in the contest.
At Wednesday’s proceedings, counsel to Diden, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Bankole Joel Akomolafe, informed the court that although the matter was scheduled for hearing, the statement of defence filed on behalf of Senator Joel Thomas Onowakpo was only recently served on him despite having been filed several days earlier, leaving him with insufficient time to respond.
Following submissions by counsel, Justice Umar granted a short adjournment by agreement of the parties and fixed July 6 for a definite hearing, directing that all pending court processes be regularised before the adjourned date.
The judge also ordered that fresh hearing notices be served on all parties in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1094/2026 to ensure the matter proceeds without further procedural delays.
The APC was represented in court by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Lukman Fagbemi, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), though reportedly served with hearing notices, had no legal representation during the proceedings.
In the suit, Diden alleges that Senator Onowakpo unlawfully declared himself winner of the primary election through manipulated and forged results, contrary to the APC’s prescribed procedure for announcing the outcome of the exercise.
The plaintiff maintained that the National Working Committee of the APC had directed that the collation and official declaration of the primary election results would take place in Abuja after all returns had been received, alleging that the senator disregarded that directive by publicly announcing himself as the winner.
Diden further claimed that authentic ward-by-ward results in his possession showed that he polled 96,893 votes, while Onowakpo scored 31,918 votes across the eight local government areas that make up Delta South Senatorial District.
He is therefore asking the court to declare him the valid winner of the APC primary and compel the party to forward his name to INEC as its candidate for the 2027 Delta South Senatorial election.
He is also seeking an order directing INEC to accept his nomination should the court grant the reliefs sought.
The outcome of the suit is expected to have far-reaching implications for the APC’s preparations for the 2027 general elections in Delta South.
Credit: Daily Post except headline
