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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed July 7 for definite hearing in a suit filed by Senator Adolphus Wabara-led Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Kabir Turaki faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Justice Salim Ibrahim set the date to allow all parties file and respond to pending processes, ordering that they should be filed and served by July 6.
He ruled that all pending applications, including the substantive suit, would be heard together on the next date and warned that the court would not entertain further delay.
The judge had earlier, on June 19, ordered an accelerated hearing after the lead counsel to the plaintiffs, Chief Gordy Uche, told the court the matter was time-bound, citing INEC’s revised 2027 election timetable, which sets July 17 as the deadline for the relevant process.
The Wabara-led BoT and the PDP are asking the court to compel INEC to recognise the Kabir Turaki-led interim National Working Committee (NWC) on its official website and to update its records to reflect the interim NWC as forwarded to it by the BoT and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) via letters dated May 4.
The originating summons, filed June 4 and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, lists eight plaintiffs, including former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara; BoT Secretary and former Niger State Governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu; former information minister, Prof. Jerry Gana; PDP chieftain, Olabode George; former women affairs ministers, Hajiya Maryam Ciroma; Hajiya Zainab Maina; BoT/NEC member, Dame Esther Uduehi and the PDP itself. INEC is the sole defendant.
The PDP national chairman, Kabir Turaki and Prof. Jerry Gana, were in court for yesterday’s proceedings. Uche appeared for all plaintiffs while Sunday Ameh appeared for the PDP. Counsel for the INEC and the parties seeking to be joined as co-defendants, Ferdinand Orbih and Adedayo Adedeji did not oppose the application for consolidated hearing.
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The case stems from a leadership crisis that has moved through multiple courts. According to an affidavit by former Governor Aliyu, the PDP’s NWC suspended four officers, including Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, Umar M. Bature, Adeyemi Kamaldeen Ajibade and Okechukwu Osuoha on November 1, 2025, over alleged anti-party conduct and Anyanwu was later expelled following a National Disciplinary Committee recommendation.
Anyanwu’s challenge to his expulsion was dismissed by the FCT High Court on January 12, 2026 (Suit No. CV/1050/2025).
The PDP’s national convention, held November 15 and 16, 2025, at which new officers were elected was subsequently nullified by the Court of Appeal on March 9 (Appeal No. CA/ABJ/1613/2025), a decision the Supreme Court affirmed on April 30 in two related appeals (Nos. SC/CV/164/2026 and SC/CV/166/2026), which also dismissed a cross-appeal against the officers’ suspension.
Citing the resulting leadership vacuum, the BoT says it constituted the interim NWC and notified INEC by a letter on May 4, with portfolios assigned on May 12 and communicated to INEC on May 15.
The plaintiffs alleged that INEC is yet to act on those letters or the follow-up correspondence sent by Chief Uche on May 8 and May 13, and accused the commission of failing to give effect to the subsisting Court of Appeal and Supreme Court’s judgments.
Separately, the Court of Appeal in Abuja, on June 3, set aside key aspects of a Federal High Court, Ibadan judgment that had recognised a rival PDP caretaker committee led by Abdurrahman Mohammed and Samuel Anyanwu, aligned to Nyesom Wike.
In a unanimous decision, Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam held that the trial judge, Justice Uche Agomoh, had granted reliefs no party had sought in the January 30 judgment.
The Federal High Court, Abuja, adjourned the Wabara/PDP suit against INEC to July 7 for hearing of all applications and the substantive case.
