A legal practitioner, Obunike Ohaegbu, has sued the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the alleged failure to declare the result of the party’s primary election for the Nnewi North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo Federal Constituency in Anambra State.

Ohaegbu filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1219/2026, at the Federal High Court in Abuja over the primary held on May 29, 2026, to select the NDC’s candidate for the 2027 House of Representatives election.

He listed NDC, Ebere Onunkwo, Socrates Ebo, INEC and Peter Uzokwe as the first to fifth defendants.

In the originating summons, Ohaegbu claimed that he participated in the primary and scored the highest number of lawful votes.

He is asking the court to determine whether, based on the votes he allegedly secured, he should be recognised as the validly elected and nominated NDC candidate for the constituency.

The lawyer is also challenging the party’s alleged failure or refusal to collate, announce and publish the primary result despite the conclusion of the voting process by its appointed electoral officers.

Ohaegbu further challenged an alleged NDC directive that the result should not be announced at the venue of the primary but only at the party’s national headquarters.

He wants the court to determine whether such a directive could be used to suppress, alter, substitute or refuse to declare the lawful winner of the primary.

The plaintiff is also challenging the process through which Uzokwe was recognised as the NDC candidate.

Among the reliefs sought, Ohaegbu wants the court to declare him the validly elected and nominated candidate and order the NDC to formally declare and return him as the winner of the primary.

He is also seeking an order preventing the party from substituting his name with another candidate and directing the NDC to submit and upload his name and particulars to INEC.

Ohaegbu further wants INEC restrained from accepting, recognising or publishing the name of anyone other than him as the NDC candidate, should the court determine that he lawfully won the primary.

At Monday’s proceedings, the case could not proceed because the second, third and fifth defendants had not been served with the mandatory hearing notice and were absent from court.

Counsel to Ohaegbu, Ifeanyi Nrialike, told the court that the parties had filed and exchanged the relevant processes.

The court directed that hearing notices be served on the absent defendants and adjourned the case until October 14, 2026.

The judge also ordered that proof of service on all parties must be presented before the next hearing.