The internal crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, took a new twist yesterday as the Federal High Court in Abuja barred the Kabiru Turaki-led faction from accessing the party’s national secretariat.

The court, in the judgment delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, also nullified the convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November 2025, through which the Turaki-led national executives emerged.

It specifically restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from recognising the outcome of that convention, which it said was done in defiance to a subsisting court order.

On the other hand, the court ordered security agencies, including the Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State Services, to provide protection for the faction of the party aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, to access and operate from the party’s national headquarters.

The judgment followed a suit lodged before the court on November 21, 2025, by the then interim factional Chairman and Secretary of the party, Mohammed Abdulrahman and Samuel Anyanwu, respectively.

The plaintiffs, who are backed by Wike, had aside from challenging the legality of the Ibadan convention, applied for an order to restrain the Turaki-led group from representing the party in any capacity.

In her judgment, Justice Abdulmalik held that the purported convention held in Ibadan between 15 and 16 November 2025, including the election of party officials and expulsion of some notable members of the party, violated section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as the party’s constitution and prior court orders.

She held that the said expulsion of members of the party belonging to the plaintiffs’ camp was not only an affront to subsisting court pronouncments, but also a direct assault to the democracy and the rule of law.

Consequently, the court invalidated all proceedings, resolutions and decisions that were reached at the said convention, including the suspension of members of the first plaintiff, declaring them as unconstitutional, unlawful, null and void, and of no effect.

According to the court, Section 287(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, empowered it to enforce valid orders made by courts in the country.

Justice Abdulmalik held that political parties were bound to operate within the provisions of their constitutions.

Meanwhile, the validity of the recent convention organised by a faction aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, is now before the courts, as a rival bloc within the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, backed by Governors Seyi Makinde (Oyo) and Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), intensifies its legal challenge to the party’s leadership crisis.

The dispute, which has moved beyond internal party wrangling, is now a constitutional issue, one that will determine not just who leads the PDP, but also test the limits of judicial intervention in party affairs, as tensions deepen over legitimacy and control of party structures.

In a statement by Ini Ememobong, National Publicity Secretary of the factional PDP National Working Committee aligned with Makinde, the group said it had taken the matter to court, including filing processes at the Supreme Court, to resolve all issues surrounding the party’s leadership and the disputed convention.

“With the series of disturbing activities occurring in succession within the last 48 hours, genuine members of the Peoples Democratic Party across the country have expressed concerns and are asking what the future holds for the party and our country’s democracy, by extension,” the statement said.

The group said it had filed an appeal at the Supreme Court alongside other applications and served all parties involved.

“With this appeal and the relevant concomitant applications filed and served on all the parties involved, we are hopeful that sooner, rather than later, the apex court will, in the interest of democracy, expeditiously hear and adjudicate on this matter,” it stated.

It also accused the Wike-backed faction of proceeding with the convention despite ongoing proceedings at the Court of Appeal (Ibadan Division), where parties had already agreed on how the matter would proceed.