Eshioromeh Sebastian
The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to former Minister Tanimu Turaki and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has rejected the Supreme Court’s Thursday judgment nullifying the party’s Ibadan national convention.
A five-member panel of the apex court, in a majority decision delivered on April 30, 2026, dismissed the appeal filed by the Turaki-led faction and voided the November 15 and 16, 2025 convention held in Ibadan.
The court held that the convention was conducted in defiance of subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court delivered by Justices Peter Lifu and James Omotosho, which had barred the party from proceeding with the exercise.
The legal battle began when former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido filed a suit alleging he was arbitrarily denied the chance to contest for the national chairmanship position. Justice Lifu had halted the convention, ordering the PDP to allow Lamido to obtain nomination forms, mobilize supporters, and campaign.
Additionally, Justice Omotosho had nullified the convention for failure to conduct valid state congresses in 14 states before the gathering, noting that notices for the convention were signed only by the National Chairman, excluding the National Secretary.
The Court of Appeal had earlier upheld both lower court rulings, describing the PDP’s decision to proceed with the convention as “a direct affront to judicial authority and a gross abuse of court process”. The appellate court held that the party should have sought a stay of execution from a higher court rather than defying the restraining orders.
The Turaki-led faction approached the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the concurrent judgments of the lower courts.
However, in a statement issued on Thursday, Comrade Ini Ememobong, spokesperson for the faction, faulted the majority ruling, arguing that the leadership crisis falls within the internal affairs of the party and should not be justiciable.
“The case at the Federal High Court was not challenging any act or decision of any federal government agency but the leadership contest of the party, and therefore not justiciable,” Ememobong said.
The statement further argued that the majority judgment raised issues suo motu — on its own motion — without calling on the parties to address them, a practice the faction said is against the position of the apex court.
The faction warned that the ruling leaves the PDP as a party without defined leadership and “leads the vehicle of our party towards a dangerous bend, which, if not carefully navigated, may not only affect the party but also multi-party democracy in our country.”
The faction said its existing organs would take necessary steps to salvage the party and confer leadership on it going forward.
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