Court judgements eroding confidence in Nigerian judiciary, say PDP Mgt, Staff
The Management and Staff of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI) have noted the recent judgment of the Federal High Court, Ibadan on the issue of the leadership of the great party and as critical stakeholders of the PDP.
They expressed disappointment in what was described as miscarriage of judgement and abuse of judicial processes. They, however pledger their loyalty and allegiance to the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki SAN-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the great party which they said was duly and legally elected at the Party’s National Convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15-16, 2025.
In a statement jointly signed by 76 directors and assistant directors cadre as well as staff of the party and made available to the media in Abuja yesterday, the party stakeholders posited that “it is already established in 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 internal mechanism to which the courts have no jurisdiction to interfere or interrogate.
“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. “That our Party fulfilled the statutory requirements of the law as stipulated in Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022 by notifying INEC of the National Convention which was convened with them (INEC) in attendance.
“And similarly, on the just delivered Supreme Court Judgment in the case of INEC vs SDP & Ors, the Apex Court while admonishing INEC, reaffirmed its longstanding position that what is required of the Political Parties is to “Notify” the Commission as required by law; and this our Party has done.” They argued that according to the Electoral Act, the only time a Convention, Congress or Meeting would be voided under the law is if notice of such events were never given to the Commission; which is not the case in this instance.
“That under Section 31 (3) of the PDP Constitution, the decision of the National Executive Committee (in this case to hold the Convention to elect a new leadership of the party) is binding on all organs and members of the Party; a provision which rendered the litigation by the two former members of the party and the consequential judgments against the Convention by Justice Kolawale Omotosho and Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja surprising.
“In the case of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, it is clearly inconsistent with the extant judgment of the Supreme Court on party’s internal affairs especially as the subject matter is before an appellate court on the ground of want of jurisdiction of the trial court.” It is of particular concern that Justice Agomoh accused our party of conducting the Convention in disobedience to the order of court when actually, the judge was made aware of the ruling by the Oyo State High Court which ordered our Party to conduct the exercise.
“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 “funtus 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.
“As critical stakeholders in the Democratic process, we urge the National Judicial Council (NJC) to caution judges who are complicit in delivering judgments or issuing orders that make them appear as willing tools in the hands of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to cripple opposition and destroy our hard-earned democracy.
“The action of these judges of particular concern is eroding the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary. Our fear is that when such confidence is eroded, citizens have the tendency to resort to self-help; a recipe for crisis in the country,” the statement read in party. They implored all on members of the PDP not to be fazed by the judgment but remain resolute as party takes firm steps to surmount all the huddles and reposition on the path of victory ahead of the 2027 general elections.
