Justice Salim Ibrahim delivered the judgment on the matter. He ruled that the people who filed the case did not have the legal right to bring it before the court. Because of that, he struck out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
The case was filed by members of the PDP Board of Trustees, led by the Board Chairman, Adolphus Wabara. They wanted the court to order INEC to update its records and list the names of the interim National Working Committee headed by Kabiru Turaki, SAN. They also asked the commission to publish those names on its official website.
The plaintiffs told the court that the names of the Turaki-led executives were sent to INEC in letters dated May 4. They argued that under the Constitution and the PDP Constitution, INEC had a duty to act on correspondence coming from the party’s interim leadership.
Apart from Wabara, others listed as plaintiffs included former Niger State Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, Professor Jerry Gana, Chief Olabode George, Hajiya Maryam Ciroma, Hajiya Zainab Maina, Dame Esther Uduehi, and the PDP itself. The suit was filed on June 4, with Senior Advocate Chris Uche leading the legal team. INEC was named as the only defendant.
But the matter was contested from the start.
A different group within the PDP, aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, also went to court. Led by its National Chairman, Abdulrahman Mohammed, the group said it represented the authentic leadership of the party. They challenged the court’s jurisdiction and asked to be joined in the case. Their argument was simple: the Wabara-led group did not have the authority to sue on behalf of the PDP.
Before the main judgment, Justice Ibrahim ruled on the request to join the case. He granted it, saying the outcome would affect the interests of the applicants.
When it came to the substantive matter, the judge upheld all the preliminary objections raised by INEC and by the group seeking to be joined. He described the suit as an abuse of court process.
According to the court, the plaintiffs failed to show that INEC had already recognized the purported interim NWC. The judge also said they did not prove they had the authority to file the case in the name of the PDP.
The court went further to remove the PDP’s name from the suit. Justice Ibrahim held that the plaintiffs did not have the party’s permission to institute the action using the party’s name.
The judge explained that the case was asking the court to make orders that would contradict judgments that had already been given by other courts. He called the matter academic, because evidence before him showed that the PDP convention that produced the Mohammed-led executives was monitored by INEC.
“The court does not decide hypothetical or academic questions,” Justice Ibrahim said.
He also faulted the way the case was started. The suit was filed through an Originating Summons, but the judge said that was not appropriate given how disputed the issues were.
The court also took note of previous judgments that had nullified the PDP convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, which produced the Turaki-led executives. With those earlier decisions in place, the judge said there was no basis to grant the reliefs being sought.
In the end, Justice Ibrahim dismissed the suit entirely.
He then made cost orders. Under Section 83(6)(b) of the Electoral Act 2026, the court imposed a fine of N70 million against the plaintiffs, payable to the 1st to 7th defendants. In addition, the judge ordered the plaintiffs’ lawyer to personally pay N10 million.
The court said the reason for the heavy costs was to discourage what it described as frivolous pre-election suits. The message was clear: parties should not use the courts to pursue internal party matters that lack legal basis or that seek to reopen issues already decided.
The ruling puts another mark on the internal crisis within the PDP, where two factions have been laying claim to leadership. One side recognizes the executives produced at the Ibadan convention and monitored by INEC. The other side has been pushing for recognition of the interim committee led by Kabiru Turaki.
With this judgment, the court has sided with the argument that the proper procedures were followed in the convention that produced the Mohammed-led leadership, and that the attempt to get INEC to recognize a parallel structure could not stand.
For now, INEC is not under any court order to publish the names of the Turaki-led interim NWC. The electoral body can continue to deal with the leadership it had previously recognized and monitored.
The decision is also expected to shape how political parties handle internal disputes going forward, especially as the country moves closer to the next round of elections. Courts have repeatedly warned against flooding them with party squabbles that do not meet legal requirements.
