By Our Reporter
Confusion has enveloped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following a judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, with rival factions offering sharply different interpretations of the ruling and each laying claim to legitimacy in the party’s protracted leadership crisis.
The judgment, delivered on Wednesday, arose from an application filed by the faction led by former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, which emerged from a national convention organised in Ibadan by allies of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde. The convention, boycotted by Federal Capital Territory Minister and former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, had produced Turaki as national chairman.
In its ruling, the court declined to grant the relief sought by the Turaki-led National Working Committee, which had asked for an order of mandamus compelling relevant authorities to recognise it as the lawful leadership of the PDP. The court held that it could not grant such an order because there were subsisting judgments by courts of coordinate jurisdiction on the same leadership dispute, and that doing so would amount to sitting on appeal over decisions of courts of equal standing.
Following the judgment, the Wike-aligned faction claimed the ruling as a major victory, arguing that it effectively nullified the Ibadan convention and affirmed the continued control of the party by the caretaker committee headed by Mohammed Abdulrahman, with Senator Samuel Anyanwu as secretary. The faction also cited the symbolic weight of securing such a ruling in Ibadan, widely regarded as Governor Makinde’s political stronghold.
However, the Turaki group has forcefully rejected that interpretation, insisting that the court neither recognised nor validated any rival faction. In a statement issued after the ruling, the group described claims that the judgment handed the PDP to the Wike camp as false, mischievous and deliberately designed to mislead party members and the public.
According to the Turaki faction, the Ibadan court made no determination on which group constitutes the authentic leadership of the PDP. It maintained that the ruling was purely procedural and limited to the narrow question before the court, stressing that courts only grant or refuse the specific reliefs sought by parties and do not confer unsolicited legitimacy.
The group further argued that the Wike-aligned faction did not file any application before the Ibadan court seeking recognition as the lawful leadership of the party. It noted that a separate case involving that faction is pending before another Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, and has been adjourned to February 20.
The Turaki-led NWC said it has instructed its legal team to file an immediate appeal against the Ibadan ruling, insisting that until the Court of Appeal gives a definitive pronouncement, the leadership that emerged from the Ibadan convention remains intact and operational. It urged party members to remain calm, insisting that there is no vacuum in the party’s leadership and no judicial endorsement of any rival group.
The divergent reactions have deepened uncertainty within the PDP, which has been engulfed in a leadership crisis since the aftermath of the 2023 general elections. The party has remained split between powerful blocs aligned with Wike and Makinde, with parallel meetings, rival communiqués and competing legal actions fuelling internal instability.
As the dispute shifts to the appellate courts, political observers say the Ibadan ruling has further complicated efforts to stabilise the PDP and reposition it as a credible opposition force ahead of the 2027 general elections, leaving party members and the wider public grappling with conflicting narratives over who truly controls the party’s national structure.