"The rescheduled primaries were not done in line with the law."

A Federal High Court in Abakaliki has again declared the rescheduled Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries in Ebonyi, invalid.

The Judge, Fatun Riman, Tuesday, recognised Ifeanyi-Chukwuma Odii as authentic governorship candidate of the party for the 2023 polls.

Justice Riman said the repeated primaries in the state were invalid because it was not monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

"The rescheduled primaries were not done in line with the law.

"We, therefore, recognise the primaries of May 28 and 29 that elected Odii as governorship candidate in Ebonyi and that is our judgment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the party rescheduled and conducted fresh primaries on June 4 and 5, which produced Obinna Ogba as the gubernatorial candidate.

The party thus disregarded the outcome of the May 28 and 29 primaries.

NAN also recalls that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had earlier on Tuesday ordered for a fresh trial of the suit by the Federal High Court, Abakaliki.

The order was made to enable the appellant to be heard, pursuant to the principle of natural justice.

The counsel for Mr Odii, Mudi Erhenede, thanked the court for the judgement.

"The court has revisited the suit for fair hearing and ruled that the rescheduled PDP primaries remain invalid," he said.

The PDP in Ebonyi State has been torn into two factions over the struggle for the control of the party structure in the state.

(NAN)