The Wike-backed faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has filed a suit before the federal high court in Abuja requesting to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising the national convention held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, on November 15 and 16.
The party, interim national chairman Mohammed Abdulrahman, and national secretary Samuel Anyanwu are requesting in the lawsuit FHC/ABJ/CS/25012025 that the court declare the convention and all of its decisions “null, void, and of no effect.”
During the Ibadan convention, Anyanwu, Wike, Ayo Fayose, the former governor of Ekiti, and eight other party leaders were kicked out of the PDP.
Additionally, the plaintiffs are requesting an order prohibiting security services and INEC from identifying the sixth through twenty-fifth defendants as PDP officials. These defendants include Umar Damagum, Kabiru Turaki, the new national chairman, and other notable members.
The plaintiffs contend in the original summons that three federal high court rulings were blatantly disregarded during the Ibadan convention.
They referred to the judgement delivered on October 31 in FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025: between Austine Nwachukwu v INEC & Ors; as well as the interim order of November 11 and judgement of November 14 in FHC/ABJ/CS/2299/2025 between Alhaji Sule Lamido v PDP & Ors.
They also cited on the judgement delivered on May 31, 2023, in FHC/ABJ/CS/139/2023: Nyesom Wike v PDP & Ors.
The plaintiffs argued that the various rulings specifically prohibited the party from holding the exercise and invalidated the 21-day notice given for the national convention.
The fifth through twenty-fifth defendants allegedly “organised themselves and their cohorts” and called a meeting in Ibadan where they allegedly elected national leaders and declared the suspension or expulsion of several well-known party members in defiance of the court’s decisions.
‘AN ATTEMPT TO FORCEFULLY TAKE OVER PDP SECRETARIAT’
The PDP national secretary stated in an affidavit deposed to by Anyanwu that the gang attempted, but failed, to “forcibly take control” of the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza and Legacy House in Abuja on November 18.
He claimed that the police and Department of State Services (DSS) “sealed up” the secretariat and prevented the party’s legitimate officers from entering the buildings rather than carrying out the existing court orders.
“The 2nd to 4th defendants have now sealed up the premises of the 1st plaintiff and denied the 2nd and 3rd plaintiffs access to their offices,” the affidavit reads.
WHAT THE PLAINTIFFS WANT
The plaintiffs are requesting that the court rule that INEC, the inspector general of police, the FCT commissioner of police, and the DSS are required by the constitution to uphold the previous rulings and give their provisions full effect.
Additionally, they demand an order prohibiting the sixth through twenty-fifth defendants from posing as PDP officials and prohibiting them from acknowledging or implementing any decisions reached during the Ibadan convention.
The plaintiffs also ask the court to order the security services to give them sufficient protection and to allow them access to Legacy House and Wadata Plaza so they can perform party business.
They are also seeking the court’s determination on whether any authority or institution can lawfully recognise the Ibadan convention in view of the subsisting judgements and the provisions of the constitution, the Electoral Act, and the PDP constitution.
The suit is yet to be assigned to a judge, and no date has been fixed for the hearing.
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