Governors Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Monday led top figures of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Court of Appeal in Abuja as the party’s festering leadership crisis escalated.
Also present at the appellate court were the PDP National Chairman, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN, and members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), who are seeking judicial clarity on the legitimacy of the current party leadership amid multiple and conflicting court rulings.
The appeal hearing follows weeks of open warfare within the opposition party, which has been torn apart by rival camps loyal to PDP governors on one hand and the camp aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, on the other.
The power struggle has paralysed the party’s operations nationwide, leading to the sealing of the PDP national secretariat by the police, mutual expulsions by the warring factions, and the dissolution of state party structures controlled by opposing camps.
The Abuja appeal comes against the backdrop of a controversial judgment delivered by the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, which further inflamed tensions within the party.
In a statement dated February 3, 2026, the management and staff of the PDP and its training arm, the Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) had publicly rejected the Ibadan judgment, insisting that the Turaki-led NWC remains the only lawful leadership of the party.
The staff declared their “recognition, loyalty and allegiance” to the Turaki-led NWC, which they said was “duly and legally elected” at the party’s National Convention held in Ibadan between November 15 and 16, 2025.
They argued that the convention and all resolutions reached there remain valid, having been conducted in line with the PDP Constitution and the party’s long-standing principle of supremacy over its internal affairs.
“That the staff of the PDP, as custodians of the PDP Secretariat, will not align with or recognize any other unauthorised leadership apart from the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki SAN-led National Working Committee (NWC) because the leadership was validly elected at the National Convention sanctioned by all the legitimate organs of the Party,” the statement said.
The PDP staff further cited a “plethora of judgments of the Supreme Court,” maintaining that issues of party membership, leadership, congresses and conventions are internal matters beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.
“That, it is already established in plethora of judgments of the Supreme Court that issues of membership, leadership, congresses and Conventions of a political party are entirely the internal affairs of the Party requiring only the Party internal mechanism to which the courts have no jurisdiction to interfere or interrogate,” they added.
According to the statement, there was no legal impediment to the conduct of the Ibadan convention, noting that it was convened by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at its 101st meeting on July 24, 2025, pursuant to Section 31(2)(a) of the PDP Constitution.
The staff also insisted that the party complied fully with Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022, including formally notifying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which they said was present at the convention.
They referenced the Supreme Court decision in INEC v. SDP & Ors, arguing that under the law, the only ground for voiding a party convention is failure to notify INEC — a condition they said does not apply to the PDP convention in dispute.
Raising alarm over what they described as contradictory court rulings, the PDP staff criticised earlier judgments delivered by Justices Kolawale Omotosho and Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which they said arose from suits filed by “two former members of the party.”
They described the Ibadan judgment as particularly troubling, noting that the issue of jurisdiction is already before the Court of Appeal.
“It is of particular concern that Justice Agomoh accused our party of conducting the Convention in disobedience to the order of court when actually, the judge was made aware of the ruling by the Oyo State High Court which ordered our Party to conduct the exercise,” the statement said.
The staff warned that continued attempts to impose party leadership through the courts pose a grave threat to internal democracy and could further destabilise Nigeria’s opposition politics.
Leave a Reply