Nigeria’s Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Taminu Turaki-led National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), affirming earlier rulings that nullified the party’s controversial national convention held in Ibadan in November 2025.
Delivering the lead judgment on Thursday, Justice Stephen Adah held that the convention conducted on November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo State, was carried out in defiance of a subsisting order of the Federal High Court. The apex court ruled that the actions of the Turaki-led faction amounted to an abuse of court process, particularly for seeking relief from a court of coordinate jurisdiction rather than pursuing an appeal.
“The conduct of the national convention of November 15, 2025, is null and void and is hereby nulled,” the court declared. It further warned that, “This court will not lend its machinery to any litigant who abuses the process of the court. This appeal is lacking in merit and is hereby dismissed. Parties will bear their own costs.”
The judgment reinforces earlier decisions by both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had invalidated the convention for violating an injunction secured by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido. Lamido had obtained the court order to halt the exercise until he was allowed to contest for the position of national chairman—an order the party ignored.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court emphasised that political parties must operate within the bounds of the law, noting that they serve as vehicles through which individuals attain public office. “Once a party knows of an order of court, it is bound to obey it,” the court stated, underscoring the primacy of the rule of law over internal party considerations.
The Turaki faction, through its counsel Paul Erokoro (SAN), had urged the apex court to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision and uphold the Ibadan convention. However, respondents aligned with a rival faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, argued that the matter extended beyond internal party affairs and centred on disobedience to a valid court order.
While the majority judgment, supported by Justices Mohammed Garba and Chidiebere Iheme, firmly dismissed the appeal, a minority opinion delivered by Justice Haruna Samani took a different view. He maintained that issues concerning party leadership fall within internal party affairs and are not justiciable. Justice Abubakar Umar aligned with this reasoning but stressed that disobedience to court orders remains unacceptable.
The ruling is the latest development in the prolonged leadership crisis within the PDP, which has seen factions engage in parallel conventions, legal battles, and internal power struggles. The dispute intensified following the Ibadan convention and subsequent countermoves by the Wike-backed faction, which held its own convention in Abuja in March 2026, producing a rival leadership.
