A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, has voided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention held in the city between November 15 and 16, 2025, dealing a major blow to the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the opposition party.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Uche Agomoh ruled that the convention was conducted in open defiance of subsisting court orders and consequently stripped all officials purportedly elected at the gathering of any claim to national leadership of the party.
The suit, marked FHC/IB/CS/121/2025, was instituted by the Turaki-led faction, which had sought judicial validation of the Ibadan convention and recognition of the National Working Committee (NWC) that emerged from it.
However, the court held that returning to seek judicial endorsement of actions taken in contempt of valid court orders was legally untenable. Justice Agomoh declared all decisions reached at the convention null and void.
The judge further ruled that the PDP can only be administered by its caretaker committee pending the conduct of a fresh national convention that complies strictly with the party’s constitution and existing court directives.
The ruling follows months of internal crisis within the PDP, which went ahead with the Ibadan national convention despite court orders restraining the exercise.
Earlier, a Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, had ordered the suspension of the convention in a suit filed by former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido.
Lamido had alleged that he was unlawfully denied the opportunity to purchase a nomination form to contest for the party’s chairmanship, in violation of the PDP constitution and its electoral guidelines.
Meanwhile, the Turaki-led faction has announced its decision to challenge the judgment at the appellate court.
In refusing an application for an order of mandamus, the Ibadan court held that granting such relief would amount to “sitting on appeal” over judgments of courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
Reacting to the ruling, the faction described the outcome as “not unexpected.”
In a statement issued on Friday and posted on X by the PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the faction confirmed that its legal team has been directed to immediately file an appeal and pursue all lawful remedies.
Despite the judgment, the faction insisted it remains intact.
“Notwithstanding this judgment, the Kabiru Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party, which emerged from the Ibadan Convention, remains legally intact and unshaken, as we await the authoritative pronouncement of the appellate courts,” the statement said.
It urged party members to remain calm and resolute, insisting there was “absolutely no cause for alarm,” while reaffirming that the party’s so-called rebirth movement remains on course.
The ruling further deepens the leadership crisis within the PDP, as rival factions continue to seek judicial validation of their legitimacy.