Delta: Odebala Sues NDC, INEC and Four Others over Governorship Primary

Hon. Ejaife Omizu Odebala has taken the dispute over the Nigeria Democratic Congress governorship primary in Delta State to the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking the court to declare him the winner.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1636/2026, concerns the primary conducted on May 29, 2026. Odebala says he scored the highest number of votes, including results collated and declared from Ughelli North, Okpe and Isoko North local government areas.

In the case filed on July 29 by a legal team led by Fredricks Itula, SAN, Odebala is seeking declarations that the NDC cannot submit the name of another person to the Independent National Electoral Commission as its candidate for the 2027 Delta governorship election. He also wants the court to bar the party and INEC from recognizing any final results other than those announced by the party’s returning officers at the local government level.

Odebala is asking the court to order the NDC to recognize him as the winner, issue him the required nomination and expression-of-interest forms, and provide Form EC9. He is also seeking an order stopping the other defendant from presenting himself as the NDC candidate, as well as an order requiring the replacement of any name already submitted with his own.