Alleged Forgery: 20 NDC Members Drag Party Chieftains to Court Over Primary Election Results

Twenty members of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in Imo State have filed a direct criminal complaint before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Abuja, accusing two party chieftains of alleged forgery and manipulation of the party’s primary election process.

The complaint, assigned to Court 5 and marked CR/1422/644/2026, seeks an order directing the Inspector-General of Police to arrest, investigate and prosecute the accused persons over the alleged offences.

The defendants in the suit are Babatunde Falli and Teddy Obey, both prominent figures within the party.

The complainants, drawn from the Imo East Senatorial District, alleged that the party leadership collected payments for expression of interest forms but failed to conduct the primary elections that were scheduled to determine candidates for the 2027 general elections.

According to the group, aspirants paid various fees as stipulated in the NDC guidelines, including N3 million for Senate forms, N2 million for House of Representatives forms and N1 million for State House of Assembly forms.

The aggrieved members further claimed that after making the required payments, they underwent screening on May 19 in compliance with party procedures but were never informed of the outcome.

They alleged that the party subsequently instructed them to prepare for primaries initially slated for May 28 before postponing them to May 29.

According to the complainants, no primary election eventually took place in any of the affected constituencies.

However, they claimed that on June 17, purported results of the primary elections surfaced on party WhatsApp platforms, showing vote tallies and declaring candidates winners in contests that never held.

The complainants argued that the publication of such results amounts to forgery, criminal breach of trust and electoral malpractice.

They also alleged that Nwole, one of the complainants, paid an additional N25 million in five instalments as contributions towards the growth of the party.

The group contended that the actions of the accused violated provisions of the Electoral Act 2026 relating to the conduct of party primaries and candidate selection processes.

They specifically cited Sections 118(c), 119(1)(a) and (c), and 124(3) of the Act.

The court is yet to fix a date for hearing the matter, while the accused persons have not publicly responded to the allegations.