Hours after the Abuja Court of Appeal upheld Federal High Court judgments nullifying the Peoples Democratic Party’s Ibadan convention and validating the suspension of the party’s national legal adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee announced on Monday that it would take the matter to the Supreme Court, insisting the convention represented an internal party affair beyond the jurisdiction of the courts. The PDP’s national publicity secretary, Ini Ememobong, issued a statement on behalf of the Turaki faction rejecting the appellate court’s reasoning and signalling that the legal battle for control of the opposition party’s machinery was far from over. Meanwhile, the camp of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike called for party unity ahead of a convention it had earlier scheduled for 29 and 30 March 2026 — a gathering that, if held, would represent the faction’s attempt to finally install its own leadership structure under conditions of legal regularity.
The appellate court’s judgment, delivered by a three-member panel led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, was comprehensive in its dismantling of the Turaki faction’s legal position. The court dismissed Turaki’s appeal challenging the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction, affirming that the dispute was not merely an internal party matter immune from judicial scrutiny. It held that the PDP had failed to comply with constitutional and statutory provisions required before a valid national convention could be held — specifically that no valid notice of the convention was served on the Independent National Electoral Commission as required by law, and that valid state congresses were not conducted in more than fourteen states before the convention was convened. The panel further held that the appellants could not repackage a clear violation of the party constitution and the Nigerian constitution as an internal party affair, and affirmed that non-compliance with the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022, and party guidelines were matters at the heart of democratic governance that must be strictly enforced. Costs of N2 million were awarded against the appellants.
The original Federal High Court judgment — delivered by Justice James Omotosho on 31 October 2025 — had restrained INEC from receiving, publishing, or recognising the convention’s outcome until the party complied with the relevant provisions of the law. The suit was filed by three aggrieved PDP members: Austin Nwachukwu, the Imo State PDP chairman; Amah Abraham Nnanna, the Abia State PDP chairman; and Turnah Alabh George, the PDP secretary for the South-South. In a separate but related ruling, the appellate court also affirmed a judgment directing the party to have allowed former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido to participate as a chairmanship aspirant in the convention — a further procedural failure layered onto the convention’s already compromised legal status. The PDP National Secretariat at Wadata Plaza in Abuja has remained sealed by the police since chaotic scenes on 18 November 2025, when both factions attempted to hold meetings there simultaneously.
