A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by acting national chairman Mohammed Abdulrahman has instituted a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to invalidate the party’s national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on 15 and 16 November.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, was filed by the PDP alongside Abdulrahman and the national secretary, Samuel Anyanwu. The plaintiffs, aligned with the camp of Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, are asking the court to declare the convention and all resolutions from the event “null, void, and of no effect”.
At the Ibadan convention, Anyanwu, Wike, former Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose, and eight other party chieftains were expelled from the PDP, a development the plaintiffs argue is unlawful and contrary to binding court orders.
The suit seeks to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Inspector-General of Police, the FCT Commissioner of Police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) from recognising Umar Damagum, Kabiru Turaki, now designated national chairman, and 20 others as national officers of the party. They are listed as the 6th to 25th defendants.
In their originating summons, the plaintiffs contend that the Ibadan convention violated three subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court. They referenced:
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The judgment of 31 October in FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025: Austine Nwachukwu v INEC & Ors,
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The interim order of 11 November and judgment of 14 November in FHC/ABJ/CS/2299/2025: Sule Lamido v PDP & Ors, and
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The ruling of 31 May 2023 in FHC/ABJ/CS/139/2023: Nyesom Wike v PDP & Ors.
These decisions, they insist, invalidated the 21-day notice issued for the convention and expressly prohibited the party from holding the exercise.
Despite the orders, the plaintiffs allege that the 5th to 25th defendants “organised themselves and their cohorts” and convened a gathering in Ibadan where they purportedly elected national officers and announced suspensions and expulsions of several high-ranking members.
In an affidavit filed by Anyanwu, he claimed that on 18 November, the group attempted to “forcibly take control” of the PDP national secretariat at Wadata Plaza and Legacy House in Abuja but failed. Instead of enforcing the valid court orders, he alleged, the police and DSS sealed both facilities and prevented legitimate officers from accessing their offices.
“The 2nd to 4th defendants have now sealed up the premises of the 1st plaintiff and denied the 2nd and 3rd plaintiffs access to their offices,” the affidavit stated.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that INEC and the security agencies are constitutionally bound to enforce the earlier judgments and to protect the recognised officials of the party. They seek several consequential orders, including:
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A restraint preventing all defendants from recognising or giving effect to the Ibadan convention or its outcomes,
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An order stopping the 6th to 25th defendants from parading themselves as PDP officials,
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A directive compelling security agencies to provide protection for the plaintiffs and allow them access to Wadata Plaza and Legacy House,
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An order barring INEC from accepting any change of the PDP’s official address except its two Abuja locations, and
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A judicial determination on whether any authority can lawfully recognise the Ibadan convention in light of existing judgments, the Constitution, the Electoral Act, and the PDP Constitution.
The case has not yet been assigned to a judge, and no date has been fixed for hearing.
