Nigeria’s main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has received backing from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for acting National Chairman Umar Iliya Damagum a move that Magaji Mato Ibrahim, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), described as “supreme and binding” on all party members unless successfully challenged in court.
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Appearing on Arise News’ The Morning Show on Monday, Ibrahim dissected the ongoing factional feud within the PDP, which has spilled into multiple courtrooms ahead of the party’s much-anticipated national convention scheduled for this weekend. The convention is set to elect a substantive national chairman, but rival claims led by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike’s loyalist Abdulrahman Muhammad—have created a legal quagmire.
INEC’s formal endorsement came in response to Damagum’s correspondence and included the deployment of monitors for the PDP’s recent governorship primaries in Akwa Ibom State. Dismissing Muhammad’s parallel claims to the chairmanship, the electoral body affirmed the Damagum-led National Working Committee (NWC) as the “authentic leadership.”
“INEC has been constitutionally saddled with the responsibility to handle electoral issues and matters in Nigeria,” Ibrahim explained. “It regulates the activities of all political parties. If INEC recognizes a particular person as the leader of a party, that is the supreme position unless such a decision of INEC is challenged in court and set aside. For INEC to recognize the Damagum faction as the authentic national chairman of the PDP, that remains the position and is binding on everybody, including all other members of the political party.”
The PDP’s internal strife has already produced dueling court orders. A Federal High Court in Abuja recently ruled to halt the convention, while a High Court in Oyo State issued an ex parte order directing that it proceed. With the convention looming on November 15, the conflicting injunctions have left party stakeholders in limbo.
Addressing the “conundrum” of these rival rulings from courts of “coordinate jurisdiction,” Ibrahim invoked a core legal principle: the “latter judgment rule.” “The cardinal principle of law is that where you have two judgments from a court of coordinate jurisdiction or from the same court just like in this case, both rulings are from high courts the latter becomes binding,” he stated. “Even when you have two conflicting judgments of the Supreme Court, the settled position of the law is that you should abide by the latter judgment.”
He cautioned, however, against the practice of “forum shopping,” where litigants file suits in multiple jurisdictions to secure favorable outcomes. “If somebody were to shop in a different federal high court in a different jurisdiction, and those ones ruled to stop the convention, we could technically go to all the states around Nigeria until the person who gets the last judgment becomes the winner,” Ibrahim noted wryly. “But I can categorically tell you that all these things that are going on are not really healthy for our democracy. I would not advocate a situation where parties are unable to settle their differences… But the law prevails above all.”
Regarding the Oyo court’s ex parte order issued without hearing the opposing side Ibrahim emphasized its temporary nature. “Matters commence in court in the way and manner they are presented… The fact that you have an ex parte order doesn’t mean there’s no existing suit,” he said. The court is slated to hear full arguments this Wednesday, potentially before the convention. Adding fuel to the fire, the Wike faction has petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC) against the Oyo judge, alleging misconduct in granting the interim relief.
On the petition, Ibrahim advised restraint: “If they file the petition, it is the duty of the [NJC] to examine it… The good thing is that the judge will have his day to respond in the agency.” He stressed that such investigations follow due process, with the judge receiving a copy of the petition to mount a defense.
A lingering question is the Oyo court’s jurisdiction over INEC, a federal body. Dismissing blanket concerns, Ibrahim clarified: “The high court has jurisdiction. It depends on the subject matter… The jurisdiction of the high court is even wider than that of the Federal High Court. In most cases concerning INEC and electoral issues, both the state high court and the Federal High Court have coordinate jurisdiction.”
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