The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising the national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, was instituted by the party alongside Mohammed Abdulrahman, acting national chairman, and Samuel Anyanwu, national secretary. They are asking the court to declare the Ibadan convention and all decisions made there as “null, void and of no effect”.
The plaintiffs belong to the faction of the PDP loyal to Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory. During the Ibadan convention, Anyanwu, Wike, former Ekiti governor Ayo Fayose, and eight other party leaders were expelled from the party. The plaintiffs are seeking an order restraining INEC and security agencies from recognising the sixth to 25th defendants, including Umar Damagum, Kabiru Turaki, the newly announced national chairman, and other officials, as legitimate PDP leaders.
In the originating summons, the plaintiffs argued that the convention was conducted in disregard of three existing judgements of the Federal High Court. They cited the judgement of October 31 in FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025 (Austine Nwachukwu v INEC & Ors), the interim order of November 11, the judgement of November 14 in FHC/ABJ/CS/2299/2025 (Alhaji Sule Lamido v PDP & Ors), and the judgement delivered on May 31, 2023, in FHC/ABJ/CS/139/2023 (Nyesom Wike v PDP & Ors). According to them, these rulings nullified the 21-day notice for the convention and expressly restrained the party from conducting it.
They alleged that despite the court orders, the fifth to 25th defendants “organised themselves and their cohorts” and held a gathering in Ibadan where they purportedly elected national officers and announced suspensions and expulsions of key party figures.
In an affidavit deposed to by Anyanwu, he stated that the group made an attempt on November 18 to “forcibly take control” of the PDP national secretariat at Wadata Plaza and Legacy House in Abuja. He said the effort was resisted, but instead of enforcing the court orders, the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) sealed the party secretariat and denied him and Abdulrahman access to 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 said.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that INEC, the inspector-general of police, the FCT commissioner of police and the DSS are constitutionally obligated to enforce the earlier judgements. They also want an order stopping the recognition of the Ibadan convention or any decisions taken there, and an order preventing the sixth to 25th defendants from parading themselves as PDP officials. In addition, they seek directives requiring security agencies to provide protection for them and grant them access to Wadata Plaza and Legacy House to perform their duties. They also want the court to stop INEC from accepting any new address for the PDP outside the two existing official locations in Abuja.
The plaintiffs further seek the court’s clarification on whether any authority can lawfully recognise the Ibadan convention in view of the subsisting judgements, the constitution, the Electoral Act and the PDP constitution. The suit has not yet been assigned to a judge and no hearing date has been fixed.
