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From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court in a marathon judgment on Friday, declined to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Senator Adolphus Wabara-led Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Justice Salim Ibrahim dismissed the suit, which sought to validate all actions taken on behalf of the party by the Tanimu Turaki, SAN-led leadership.
Members of the Wabara-led BoT had approached the court to compel INEC to update its database by acknowledging the factional interim National Working Committee (NWC) led by Turaki, and to direct the electoral body to publish on its website the interim NWC as forwarded to it by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
The plaintiffs said the names of the Turaki-led executives were forwarded to INEC via letters dated May 4. Besides Wabara, other plaintiffs in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, included the factional BoT’s Secretary, former Niger State Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu; former Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana; party chieftain Olabode George; former Women Affairs Ministers Hajiya Maryam Ciroma and Hajiya Zainab Maina; and BoT/NEC member Dame Esther Uduehi, along with the PDP itself.
INEC was the sole defendant, and the plaintiffs were represented by a legal team led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN.
The suit, filed on June 4, asked the court to determine whether Section 287(1)-(3) of the 1999 Constitution obligated INEC to give effect to prior court judgments on the PDP leadership crisis, and whether Article 32 of the PDP’s 2017 Constitution required INEC to recognise the interim NWC forwarded by the plaintiffs.
However, the faction aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, challenged the court’s jurisdiction and the plaintiffs’ locus standi to institute the suit, while applying to be joined as an interested party. That group which maintains it is the authentic PDP leadership was led by National Chairman Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed, alongside National Secretary Senator Samuel Anyanwu, National Legal Adviser Kamardeen Ajibade, former Imo PDP Chairman Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah and George Turner. All defendants, including INEC, filed preliminary objections and counter-affidavits seeking dismissal of the suit.
In a ruling delivered ahead of judgment, Justice Ibrahim granted the joinder applications, holding that the interests of the Wike-aligned faction would be affected by the outcome. He then upheld the preliminary objections and struck out the suit for want of jurisdiction, describing it as an abuse of court process aimed at resurrecting issues already settled by other courts.
The court also struck out the PDP’s name from the suit, finding no evidence that the plaintiffs were authorised to sue on the party’s behalf, and held that granting the reliefs sought would undermine subsisting judgments. Justice Ibrahim further described the case as academic, noting that INEC had duly monitored the convention that produced the Mohammed-led executives.
“The court does not decide hypothetical or academic questions,” he held, adding that the suit was incompetent for being filed by originating summons despite its contentious nature.
The court also took cognisance of existing judgments nullifying the PDP convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, which had produced the Turaki-led executives, before dismissing the suit in its entirety.
