The Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, 2025, in a major setback for the Taminu Turaki-led faction of the party.
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In a split decision, three out of five justices of the apex court dismissed the appeal filed by the Turaki-led National Working Committee, holding that it lacked merit.
Delivering the majority judgment in appeal number SC/CV/164/2026, Justice Stephen Adah held that the appellants violated a subsisting order of the Federal High Court, which had restrained them from proceeding with the planned convention.
The court held that the Ibadan convention was conducted in defiance of the existing judgment of the Federal High Court delivered by Justice James Omotosho.
The disputed convention had produced the Turaki-led National Working Committee of the PDP, but its legality was challenged on the ground that it was held despite a valid court order barring the party from going ahead with the exercise.
The Supreme Court agreed with the findings of the lower courts that the faction abused court processes by allegedly approaching another court of coordinate jurisdiction in Ibadan to obtain a counter-order, instead of appealing the earlier restraining order.
The apex court berated the group for the action, describing it as an abuse of court process.
Justice Adah stated that any litigant who engages in abuse of court process does so at his or her own peril.
The court also held that the disobedience of the earlier court order was not disputed.
According to the majority judgment, the lower courts were right to rely on Sections 221, 222 and 229 of the 1999 Constitution in holding that political parties must comply strictly with constitutional provisions, electoral regulations and valid court orders in the conduct of conventions and internal party affairs.
However, in their dissenting judgments, Justice Sadiq Umar and another justice held that the courts lacked jurisdiction to entertain the dispute, being an internal affair of a political party.
They also held that the Court of Appeal raised the issue of disobedience of a court order on its own without allowing the parties to address it, as required by law.
The appeal had challenged the March 9 judgment of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the Federal High Court’s decision nullifying the convention and restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising its outcome.
By dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed the position of the lower courts that the Ibadan convention was invalid and could not stand in law.
The apex court also dismissed the cross-appeals and ordered parties to bear their respective costs.
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