Court stops PDP convention for breach of party, INEC rules

A federal high court in Abuja has stopped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from going ahead with its planned national convention slated for November 15 and 16 in Ibadan, Oyo state.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, James Omotosho, the presiding judge, said evidence before the court showed that the party failed to hold valid state congresses before the planned national convention as stipulated in the 1999 constitution, guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as its own constitution.

He said notices and official correspondence signed by the PDP national chairman without the national secretary’s co-signature were “invalid” and a “breach of the law”.

The judge also faulted the party for failing to issue the mandatory 21-day notice to INEC before convening meetings and congresses, thereby preventing the commission from fulfilling its oversight role of monitoring such activities.

Omotosho declared that the PDP’s non-compliance with these legal provisions had jeopardised its planned convention, advising the party to rectify the infractions before proceeding with the event.

Consequently, the court barred INEC from receiving, publishing, or recognising any outcome from the proposed convention until the PDP meets all statutory requirements.

The court also dismissed the defendants’ preliminary objections challenging its jurisdiction, ruling that the matter was not merely an internal affair of the party but one with “clear legal implications”.

Austine Nwachukwu, PDP chairman in Imo state; Amah Abraham Nnanna, Abia state chairman; and Turnah George, south-south secretary of the party, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP, Samuel Anyanwu, national secretary, Umar Bature, national organising secretary, as well as the party’s national working committee (NWC) and national executive committee (NEC), were listed as the first to sixth defendants.

The plaintiffs, believed to be allies of Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), are challenging the legality of the planned national convention and seeking an order to restrain the party from proceeding with it.