Eshiorameh Sebastian and James Adamu in Abuja
A national convention of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is going ahead in Ibadan amidst conflicting court rulings and political crisis, even as a prominent founding member declared he would not attend because he is “a creation of the court order.”
This is just as the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) officially disowned the report of its own reconciliation committee and threw its full weight behind the contentious convention.
The event, intended to elect new national officers, proceeded on Saturday despite a fresh ruling from the Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday that ordered the party to suspend the exercise.
The court’s decision was the result of a suit filed by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, who argued he was unjustly denied the opportunity to contest for the position of national chairman.
In an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, Mr Lamido explained his position, framing his absence as a matter of principle and respect for the judiciary.
“I am now a creation of the court order and therefore being somebody saved by the court, I can’t go to the convention undermining and renouncing something I gained from the court. If I go to the convention, it will mean whatever I got in has been washed away. So, I can’t go there,” Mr Lamido stated.
He placed the blame for the party’s ongoing conflict squarely on the actions of its governors. “We had 14 governors, but now we have only three remaining. And even among the three, two are going. The problem came from the governors because they are eroded with their own notion that they are now in charge. There is no governor; the only governor is Seyi Makinde, who I so much respect because he is a very nice young man.”
He lamented the shift in power dynamics within the PDP, adding, “They want somebody they can control. This party produced three presidents, how many governors, senators, the Senate President, and Ambassadors. The governors of today are emperors.”
The convention push comes against a backdrop of conflicting court rulings that have left the party operating under two contradictory legal realities.
On Friday, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja not only ordered the suspension of the convention but also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising or recognising any convention conducted by the PDP without including Mr Lamido as a contestant.
Justice Lifu held that evidence before the court established that Mr Lamido was denied the opportunity to obtain a nomination form. “An order is hereby made that before any convention is held, the PDP is to make nomination forms available to the plaintiff,” the judge declared.
This ruling aligned with an earlier decision from Justice James Omotosho of the same court on 31 October, which similarly halted the planned convention.
However, in a direct legal contradiction, the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan had on 3 November permitted the PDP to proceed with the convention. Justice Ladiran Akintola gave the approval while ruling on an ex parte application filed by an Oyo PDP member, Mr Folahan Adelabi, and directed INEC to attend and monitor the event.
Faced with these conflicting orders, the party’s leadership in Ibadan chose to obey the court ruling in its favour. The South-West chairman of the party, Kamorudeen Ajisafe, confirmed this position to journalists on Friday, seemingly unaware of the fresh ruling from Abuja.
“We’re not aware of any fresh court ruling. This is almost 6 o’clock, and none of the party’s leaders is aware of the ruling you’re talking about. The convention will hold. Nothing will stop it because we are obeying the Ibadan High Court ruling that directed us to proceed with the convention,” Mr Ajisafe said.
He confirmed that four PDP governors – Bala Mohammed of Bauchi, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, and Seyi Makinde of Oyo – had already arrived in Ibadan to participate. “As I speak to you, we already have four governors… on the ground. We are 98 per cent ready for the convention, and nothing will stop us.”
On the ground in Ibadan, preparations were in full swing. Delegates from states including Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, and Delta were seen arriving at the venue on Friday night, with an Armoured Personnel Carrier and security operatives stationed at the entrance.
The INEC, found itself in a difficult position. Multiple sources within the commission confirmed to newsmen that it would not be monitoring the convention, choosing to abide by the Federal High Court’s injunction.
The airwaves became a battleground for prominent party chieftains to debate the crisis. A founding member of the PDP, Chief Bode George, expressed shock at Mr Lamido’s legal action and defended the party’s decision to proceed.
“The way things are done, I am hell shocked that he took the party to court. The last NEC meeting, the date for collection of forms was stipulated. What they are supposed to do, when they are supposed to return the forms, were all well stated and approved by NEC,” Chief George said on Channels Television.
He questioned the timing of Mr Lamido’s efforts, alleging, “Everybody who wanted to collect forms applied, paid the normal dues, and they gave you the form. But on his own side, he came physically on the very day that the return of forms closed. Of course, with his status, if he had called them earlier, they would oblige him because of his status, but to now go to court because they didn’t give you the form. That day was the last day to return the forms. Did he do what is right?”
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who is aligned with one of the party’s factions, came to Mr Lamido’s defence and criticised the move to ignore the Abuja court.
“I am a respecter of the law. I have heard Sule Lamido, I have heard our father, Chief Olabode George, but it is unfortunate that at the level of Chief Olabode George, you don’t know the difference between a substantive judgement and an ex parte order,” Mr Wike stated.
He argued that the Federal High Court had already delivered a substantive judgement on 31 October, and Mr Lamido’s case further reinforced that position.
“The court in Ibadan gave an ex parte order and then extended that ex parte order. Are you now telling us that an ex parte order will override a substantive judgement of a court?” he asked.
Amid the legal crossfire, internal reconciliation efforts appear to have completely unravelled. In a dramatic development on Saturday morning, the party’s Board of Trustees issued a press statement, dated 14th November 2025 and seen by Spear News, that categorically disowned the report of the very reconciliation committee it had established.
“The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby categorically dissociates and distances itself from the purported Report of the BoT Reconciliation Committee being circulated in some section of the media,” the statement read.
It continued, “The BoT states in clear terms that the content of the said Report is not and does not represent the official position of the Board. Having not been considered or adopted by the BoT, it cannot in any form or guise whatsoever be regarded as the position of the BoT.”
This move signalled a definitive hardening of positions within the party’s highest advisory body. Instead of heeding the committee’s advice for caution, the BoT chose to fully align with the faction pushing for the convention.
“The BoT is unwavering in its endorsement of the conduct of the elective National Convention as scheduled on Saturday, 15th to Sunday 16th November, 2025 in Ibadan, Oyo State capital for the purpose of electing new set of leaders to pilot the affairs of the Party in the next four years,” the BoT statement declared, justifying its position by citing “the Judgment of the Supreme Court which reaffirmed the supremacy of a political party in the conduct of its internal affairs.”
In a direct rejection of a key recommendation made by former Senate President Bukola Saraki and found in the leaked reconciliation report, the BoT stated, “In that regard, the BoT rejects any suggestion for a Caretaker Committee for the Party. Such idea cannot be contemplated as the Board and, of course the PDP, have irreversibly decided for an elective National Convention which is within the scope of the internal affairs of the party to which the courts have no jurisdiction.”
The BoT, under the signature of its Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, concluded by urging “Party members to remain committed and focused on the success of the Elective National Convention.”
This official disavowal of the reconciliation report effectively torpedoed the last major internal attempt to find a compromise. The leaked report, produced by the committee chaired by Ambassador Hassan Adamu, had documented deep mistrust between factions loyal to the acting National Chairman Umar Damagum and those aligned with Mr Wike. It had warned that lingering litigation and “ego-driven decisions” were severely weakening the PDP’s structure and had specifically advised that the convention should only be held if legal conditions were favourable and if INEC was willing to monitor.
With the BoT’s statement, the PDP leadership, backed by its Governors’ Forum, pressed on with the convention in Ibadan, leaving the party’s future stability and unity hanging in the balance and choosing a path of defiance against both the judiciary and its own internal reconciliation mechanisms. The stage was set for a convention that would either mark a bold reclamation of the party’s destiny or a decisive step towards its further fragmentation.
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