The Supreme Court has nullified the Peoples Democratic Party’s national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, 2025, describing it as a violation of a subsisting court order.
Delivering the majority judgment, Justice Stephen Adah dismissed the appeal filed by the Taminu Turaki-led National Working Committee of the party for lacking merit.
The apex court held that the convention was conducted in defiance of an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court delivered by Justice James Omotosho, which restrained the party from proceeding with the exercise.
The court faulted the Turaki-led group for approaching another court of coordinate jurisdiction to obtain a fresh order instead of filing an appeal against the existing judgment.
It described the action as an abuse of court process and warned that any litigant who engages in such conduct does so at his or her own risk.
The appellants, through their counsel, Paul Erokoro, SAN, had asked the Supreme Court to set aside the Court of Appeal judgment which voided the convention and to dismiss the cross-appeal filed by a rival faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
However, the respondents, including former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, argued that the issue went beyond internal party affairs and centred on the disobedience of a valid court order.
Lamido had earlier secured an injunction restraining the PDP from holding the convention until he was allowed to contest for the position of National Chairman.
Despite the order, the party proceeded with the convention, which was later declared unlawful by both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court also ruled that the matter was not protected under the doctrine of internal party affairs and consequently nullified the convention.
Affirming the lower courts, the Supreme Court stressed that political parties, as vehicles through which politicians attain public office, must obey court orders and uphold the rule of law.
The court declared the November 15, 2025 convention null and void, stating that it would not lend its authority to any litigant who abuses judicial process.
In a minority judgment, Justice Haruna Samani held that issues relating to party leadership remain internal affairs of political parties and fall outside the jurisdiction of the courts.
Justice Abubakar Umar supported that view, citing an earlier Supreme Court ruling that matters outside party primaries are not pre-election matters and are therefore not justiciable.
Both justices, however, maintained that disobedience of court orders cannot be supported under any circumstance.
