18 October 2026 1:25 pm WAT
From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
An Ebonyi State High Court sitting in Iboko has discharged and acquitted three executive committee members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogudu Okwor Ward, Onicha Local Government Area of the state over allegations of impersonation and forgery.
A former National Vice-Chairman of the PDP, South-East zone, Chief Ali Odefa, had in 2024 petitioned the police alleging that the trio of Obinna Nwachukwu (1st defendant), Idika Ogbonnya (2nd defendant) and Njoku Nwagwu (3rd defendant) were cultists who attacked him, impersonated PDP ward executives, forged documents, suspended and expelled him from the PDP.
The defendants were arrested, arraigned by the police and remanded in a correctional centre by the court following the petition.
But delivering judgment on the matter at the weekend, the trial judge, Justice Edeh Nwali, held that Odefa failed to prove the allegations against the defendants.
The court ruled that the three PDP ward leaders acted in their valid capacities as the authentic executive committee members of the party in Ogudu Okwor Ward and suspended and expelled Odefa as a member of the party.
A Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, in its judgment delivered on 24 September 2026 in Appeal No CA/E/22/2025, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abakaliki which ruled that Odefa was validly suspended from the PDP by the ward executives of the party.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Hadiza Rabiu Shagari, JCA, the appellate court held that the decision of the lower court upholding the suspension of Odefa was valid as the suspension was done in line with the clear provisions of the Constitution of the PDP, 2017 (as amended).
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