The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, challenging the nullification of its 2025 national convention.
A five-member panel headed by Justice Lawal Garba announced that the date for judgment would be communicated to parties after lawyers adopted their final written arguments.
The faction is asking the apex court to overturn the March 9 decision of the Court of Appeal, which upheld earlier rulings invalidating the party’s convention held in Ibadan in November 2025.
Counsel for the appellants argued that the dispute is an internal party matter and therefore not subject to judicial intervention, insisting that due process was followed in organising the convention.
However, lower courts had consistently ruled against the faction, nullifying the exercise, restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising its outcome, and issuing orders affecting the party’s national secretariat.
The appellate court had earlier affirmed two judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which stopped the convention pending compliance with electoral laws and party regulations.
In one ruling, Justice James Omotosho held that the party failed to conduct valid state congresses, thereby invalidating the proposed convention.
In another, Justice Peter Lifu restrained the party from proceeding with the exercise until former governor Sule Lamido was allowed to participate in the chairmanship contest after being found to have been excluded.
The legal action was filed by aggrieved party members from Imo State, Abia State, and the South-South region, deepening the party’s internal leadership crisis now before the Supreme Court.
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