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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) and the staff of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have reaffirmed their support for the Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee ( NWC) of the party.
The party staff and the PDI, in a statement jointly signed by Gambo Gaude, acting Director of Administration (PDP) and Edward Ugbada, Director General (PDI) and 74 others, said they would not support any other leadership, other than the Turaki-led NWC.
They kicked against a recent judgment of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, affecting the November 14 and 15 National Convention of the party, noting that the judgment was inconsistent with the extant verdict of the Supreme Court on internal party affairs.
According to them, “We stand by the election of the National Working Committee and all other resolutions reached at the Ibadan National Convention as they are in the general interest of our party in the exercise of its supremacy over its internal affairs, in line with the Constitution of the PDP and extant judgments of the Supreme Court.
“That the staff of the PDP, as custodians of the PDP Secretariat, will not align with or recognise any other unauthorised leadership apart from the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee (NWC) because the leadership was validly elected at the National Convention sanctioned by all the legitimate organs of the party.
“That it is already established in a plethora of judgments of the Supreme Court that issues of membership, leadership, congresses and conventions of a political party are entirely the internal affairs of the party requiring only the party’s internal mechanism to which the courts have no jurisdiction to interfere or interrogate.
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“That there was no legal encumbrance whatsoever against the conduct of the National Convention in Ibadan to elect new National Officers of our party, as it was legally convened by the National Executive Committee at its 101st meeting of July 24, 2025, pursuant to its powers under Section 31 (2) (a) of the PDP Constitution.”
The staff, while stating that the opposition party complied with all statutory requirements, in accordance with Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022, expressed concern that the Federal High Court, Ibadan, accused the PDP of conducting the convention in disobedience to the order of court.
They explained that the judge was actually made aware of the ruling by the Oyo State High Court, which ordered our party to hold the convention.
According to them, “it is equally surprising that Justice Uche Agomoh, in her judgment, turned the law on its head by granting reliefs that were not sought against our party to the extent that she attempted to create a caretaker committee with the intention to foist same on our party outside the limit of her jurisdictional power.
“There is no provision in our party’s constitution empowering any unelected individual or group to arbitrarily form committees and allocate positions to themselves.
“As custodians of the National Secretariat of the PDP, we are very much aware that the immediate past NWC is ‘functus officio’ since their tenure has ended by effluxion of time, and therefore, no member of that NWC can lay claim to any office under any guise whatsoever.
They commended the Turaki-led NWC for appealing the judgment and expressed confidence that the appellate court would eventually uphold the November 14 and 15 national convention, which took place in Ibadan.
