February 20, 2026

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Why PDP, ADC are excluded from Rivers bye-election – INEC

Why PDP, ADC are excluded from Rivers bye-election - INEC

Why PDP, ADC are excluded from Rivers bye-election - INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Labour Party (LP) will not participate in the 21 February bye-election in two constituencies of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Rivers State, Gabriel Yomere, disclosed this on Friday during a meeting with security agencies at INEC’s office in Port Harcourt, Punch newspaper reported.

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Mr Yomere said 12 candidates from seven political parties were cleared to contest the election.

“The nomination forms and the list of candidates that will participate in this election were received by us, and we have also made that public. It is of interest to tell the public that 12 candidates are participating in this election from seven political parties.

“Out of these 12 candidates, seven are participating in Ahoada East 2 Constituency, and five candidates are participating in Khana 2 Constituency.

“We have the AA, APC, APN, BP, NNPP, YPP and ZLP. These are the parties that will participate in the elections.”

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Why PDP, ADC, LP were excluded

Mr Yomere said the excluded parties failed to meet key requirements, particularly the conduct and documentation of valid primaries.

“The issue of ADC, they participated in the primaries, but if you look at a clause in the primary, it states that they have to upload results to the INEC portal at headquarters within a given period, and they failed to do that. That’s why they were excluded. Nobody is interested in excluding them.

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“Unfortunately, for the PDP, they said they did not even take part in the primaries. The Labour Party said they had litigation, which is why they were not here.”

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