PORT HARCOURT — Why does Rivers State have 32 State Constituencies when a constitutional formula appears to require at least 39?
That question is now before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, where a lawyer, Ogechukwu Okparanta, Esq., has instituted a suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), challenging the existing constituency structure in Rivers State.
The suit, numbered FHC/PH/CS/140/2026, is seeking judicial intervention over what the plaintiff describes as a seven-constituency deficit and an apparent failure to comply with Sections 91 and 112 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
At the centre of the dispute is a seemingly straightforward constitutional calculation: Rivers State has 13 Federal Constituencies. Under the minimum ratio stipulated by Section 112, multiplying 13 by three produces 39 State Constituencies.
But the state currently has 32.
Where, then, are the other seven constituencies?
That is the central question the lawsuit seeks to force INEC to answer.
Section 91 of the Constitution provides that a State House of Assembly shall consist of three or four times the number of seats which the state has in the House of Representatives. Section 112 similarly requires INEC to divide each state into a number of State Constituencies equal to three or four times the number of Federal Constituencies in that state.
On the face of those provisions, Okparanta argues, Rivers State’s present arrangement falls short of the constitutional minimum.
But the dispute is not simply about numbers. At stake is the question of political representation — and whether residents of areas allegedly left outside the constitutional calculation are receiving the level of representation guaranteed to them by the nation’s supreme law.
The plaintiff argues that the absence of seven constituencies potentially translates into seven areas without the representation contemplated by the constitutional framework.
The case also raises a broader question about the consistency of constituency delineation across Nigeria: if constitutional deficiencies in constituency arrangements can be corrected in some states, why should Rivers State’s alleged shortfall remain unresolved?
Okparanta said he had attempted to resolve the matter without litigation. In June 2026, he served a Pre-Action Notice on INEC in Abuja, drawing the Commission’s attention to what he described as the constitutional anomaly and requesting that steps be taken to correct it.
The development assumed greater significance, he said, because INEC announced in the same month the restoration of 22 State Constituencies in Benue, Delta, Jigawa and Kogi States, following court judgments arising from challenges to constituency arrangements in those states.
The Rivers suit therefore comes against the backdrop of growing legal scrutiny of constituency delineation and the constitutional obligations surrounding political representation.
Okparanta contends that where an electoral constituency arrangement is inconsistent with constitutional provisions, affected citizens are entitled to seek judicial redress rather than accept the arrangement as permanent.
The case could consequently have implications beyond the immediate question of seven additional constituencies. A decision by the court may clarify the extent of INEC’s obligation to align Rivers State’s State Constituencies with the constitutional formula and what remedies are available where such compliance is alleged to be lacking.
For Rivers State, the issue boils down to a question that can neither be dismissed as political rhetoric nor resolved by arithmetic alone:
If 13 Federal Constituencies require at least 39 State Constituencies under the constitutional formula, why does Rivers have 32?
Until that question is answered, the seven allegedly missing constituencies remain at the heart of a growing constitutional and representation controversy.
Seven constituencies. Seven potential areas of representation. One constitutional question now before the courts.
Kristina Reports will continue to follow the case and examine the history of State Constituency delineation in Rivers State, including when and how the present 32-constituency structure was established.
