The Supreme Court has ordered a fast-tracked hearing of the appeal filed by the Taminu Turaki, SAN-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the nullification of the party's national convention held in Ibadan on November 15 and 16, 2025. A five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Lawal approved the expedited process on Tuesday, directing all respondents to file their briefs within five days. The appeal, marked SC/CV/166/2026, was filed on April 8 by the PDP's National Working Committee (NWC) and National Executive Committee (NEC), through Chief Chris Uche, SAN. The appellants cited urgency due to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) setting April 23 as the start date for political parties to submit candidate nominations.

Uche submitted a 23-paragraph affidavit and one of extreme urgency to justify the accelerated hearing. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, representing the PDP faction aligned with Nyesom Wike, did not oppose the motion but requested 15 days to respond. INEC and other respondents agreed to a swift hearing but asked for 10 days. The court ruled that all processes must be filed by April 21, with the substantive hearing set for April 22. The Abuja Court of Appeal had earlier, on March 9, upheld lower court rulings that invalidated the Ibadan convention, citing violations of Federal High Court judgments from October 31 and November 14, 2025. The appellate court dismissed a prior appeal by the Makinde-Mohammed faction and affirmed that statutory procedures were not followed. It also ruled that the suspension of PDP's National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, SAN, disqualified him from authorizing legal actions. The court found the convention notices invalid for lacking the National Secretary's signature and ordered future party meetings to comply with 21-day notice requirements to INEC.

💡 NaijaBuzz Take

Taminu Turaki's faction rushing the Supreme Court over a convention already invalidated by two lower courts exposes the depth of internal decay within the PDP. This is not about legal urgency but about attempting to override judicial consistency with procedural pressure, especially as INEC's candidate submission window looms. The fact that the same convention was twice struck down—first by a Federal High Court, then by the Court of Appeal—yet still elevated to the apex court with a plea for speed, suggests the faction is less invested in due process than in circumventing it.

The PDP's crisis is no longer about ideology or party building but control of electoral access. The Court of Appeal's March 9 ruling was clear: the Ibadan convention breached constitutional, statutory, and internal party rules. By ignoring the 21-day notice to INEC and sidelining key national officers, the process lacked legitimacy. Yet the Turaki faction, backed by sitting national executives, treats the judiciary as a bottleneck rather than a referee. The suspension of the party's legal adviser, cited as justification for bypassing protocol, was itself ruled a non-justiciable internal matter—meaning the party cannot hide behind its own internal violations to claim legitimacy.

Ordinary PDP members and aspirants bear the brunt of this chaos. With the April 23 deadline for candidate submissions, the uncertainty delays access to the party's nomination process, particularly affecting those without ties to warring factions. Aspirants in Oyo, Bauchi, and Imo states—where factional chairmen are directly involved—face exclusion or contested primaries. The party's instability also weakens its position ahead of general elections, handing advantage to better-organized opposition forces.

This episode fits a broader pattern: Nigerian political parties increasingly operate as personal fiefdoms where legal rulings are treated as negotiable. The PDP's repeated attempts to revive an invalid convention mirror similar maneuvers by other parties, where institutional processes are sacrificed for factional gain. When party democracy is reduced to courtroom sprints and procedural end-runs, the loser is not just the party—but the electorate.

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