By Didimoko A. Didimoko
A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan has nullified the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held in the city in November 2025, deepening the internal crisis rocking the opposition party.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Uche Agomoh ruled that the convention, held between November 15 and 16, 2025, was conducted in violation of existing court orders and therefore invalid. The court consequently set aside all decisions taken at the convention.
The judge further declared that the caretaker committee led by Mohammed Abdulrahman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu remains the only recognised National Working Committee (NWC) of the party until a valid national convention is conducted in line with the law.
The suit was filed by a faction of the PDP led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, which had asked the court to recognise the Ibadan convention and validate the party executives elected at the gathering. However, the court barred Turaki and other officials elected at the convention from parading themselves as national officers of the party.
Justice Agomoh held that the convention was organised in “flagrant disobedience” of two subsisting judgments of the same court, adding that seeking judicial endorsement for actions already taken in defiance of court orders was an exercise in futility.
Reacting to the judgment, counsel to the PDP caretaker committee, Ferdinand Orbih, SAN, described the ruling as a victory for the rule of law, saying it reaffirmed the supremacy of the judiciary over political expediency.
However, the Turaki-led faction of the PDP rejected the ruling and announced plans to challenge it.
In a statement issued by its national publicity secretary, Ini Ememobong, the faction said its lawyers had been briefed to immediately file an appeal, insisting that the National Working Committee elected at the Ibadan convention remains intact pending the outcome of the appeal.
“Notwithstanding this judgment, the Kabiru Turaki–led PDP which emerged from the Ibadan Convention remains legally intact and unshaken,” the statement said, urging party members to remain calm and committed.
The judgment is the latest twist in the prolonged leadership crisis within the PDP, which went ahead with the controversial convention despite pending court orders.
Earlier, a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, had ordered the suspension of the convention following a suit filed by former Jigawa State governor Sule Lamido, who alleged that he was denied the opportunity to contest for the party’s chairmanship.
