The internal crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a fresh turn yesterday as the Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the Kabiru Turaki-led faction from entering the party’s national secretariat.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in her ruling, also nullified the convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November 2025, where the Turaki-led national executives claimed leadership.
The court further barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising any results from that convention, describing it as conducted in defiance of an existing court order.
In the same judgment, the court instructed security agencies, including the Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State Services, to ensure that the faction aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, could access and operate from the party’s national headquarters safely.
The case originated from a suit filed on November 21, 2025, by the then interim factional Chairman and Secretary of the party, Mohammed Abdulrahman and Samuel Anyanwu, respectively.
Backed by Wike, the plaintiffs had challenged the legality of the Ibadan convention and sought to stop the Turaki-led group from representing the PDP in any official capacity.
Justice Abdulmalik held that the Ibadan convention, which took place from November 15 to 16, 2025, including the election of party officials and the expulsion of some senior party members, breached section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the party’s constitution, and earlier court orders.
She described the expulsions of members aligned with the plaintiffs as “not only an affront to subsisting court pronouncements, but also a direct assault to democracy and the rule of law.”
The court therefore declared all actions, resolutions, and decisions from that convention—including the suspension of members loyal to the first plaintiff—as unconstitutional, unlawful, null, and void.
The judgment cited Section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, which empowers courts to enforce valid court orders, and emphasised that political parties must operate within their constitutions.
