The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in an appeal brought by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, challenging the cancellation of its 2025 national convention.
A five-member panel headed by Lawal Garba said a date for the ruling would be announced after lawyers adopted their final written arguments.
The faction is asking the court to overturn an earlier judgment delivered on March 9 by the Court of Appeal, which upheld decisions nullifying the party’s convention held in Ibadan in November 2025. At the hearing, counsel for the group argued that the matter concerns internal party affairs and should not be decided by the courts, maintaining that proper procedures were followed in organising the convention.
However, previous rulings from lower courts went against the faction. The courts voided the exercise and barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising its outcome, while also issuing orders affecting access to the party’s national secretariat. The Court of Appeal had earlier affirmed two judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which stopped the party from holding the convention until it complied with the Electoral Act and the 2022 guidelines for political parties.
In one ruling, James Omotosho held that the party failed to conduct valid state congresses as required by law and its constitution, making the planned convention invalid. In another decision, Peter Lifu ordered the party to halt the process until Sule Lamido was allowed to contest the national chairmanship, after he was found to have been unfairly excluded.
The legal battle was triggered by lawsuits from dissatisfied party members, including officials from Imo, Abia and the South-South region, deepening the leadership crisis within the party now awaiting a final verdict from the apex court.
