A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, has voided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention held between November 15 and 16, 2025, declaring the exercise illegal and of no legal consequence.
Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Uche Agomoh affirmed that the Caretaker Committee chaired by Mohammed Abdulrahman, with Senator Samuel Anyanwu, remains the only lawful National Working Committee (NWC) of the party until a properly constituted national convention is conducted.
The court also barred Kabiru Turaki and other officials purportedly elected at the Ibadan convention from parading themselves as national officers of the PDP with immediate effect.
The suit, FHC/IB/CS/121/2025, was filed by the Turaki faction, which sought judicial validation of the Ibadan convention and recognition of the NWC that emerged from it.
However, Justice Agomoh held that the convention was convened in clear violation of two subsisting judgments of the same court, noting that returning to court to legitimise actions taken in defiance of court orders amounted to an exercise in futility.
Accordingly, the court set aside all resolutions and decisions taken at the convention and ruled that the PDP can only function through the Abdulrahman-led caretaker committee pending the conduct of a lawful national convention.
Reacting to the ruling, counsel to the PDP Caretaker Committee, Chief Ferdinand Oshioke Orbih, SAN, described the judgment as a triumph for democracy and the supremacy of the rule of law.
“The claimants sought judicial endorsement of an illegal convention, but the court decisively rejected it. The judgment affirms that political expediency cannot override the rule of law,” Orbih said.
He added that the decision reinforces the caretaker committee’s mandate to oversee the party’s affairs, warning that disregard for court judgments could plunge the PDP into deeper crisis.
The ruling comes amid a prolonged leadership tussle within the PDP, which went ahead with the controversial Ibadan national elective convention in November 2025 despite subsisting court orders.
Earlier, a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, had ordered the suspension of the convention in a suit filed by former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido.
Lamido had challenged the process, alleging that he was denied the opportunity to purchase a nomination form to contest for the party’s chairmanship, in breach of the PDP constitution and guidelines.
