The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment in an appeal brought before it by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party led by Taminu Turaki, seeking to overturn a ruling that invalidated the party’s national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
A five-member panel of the court, presided over by Justice Garba Mohammed, announced that judgment would be delivered on a date to be communicated to all parties involved in the appeal. The announcement followed the adoption of written arguments by counsel representing both sides.
The appeal was initiated by members of the party’s national executive aligned with the Turaki-led group, who emerged from the disputed convention. They are challenging the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal Nigeria, which nullified the exercise on the basis that it was conducted in defiance of a subsisting court order.
Counsel to the appellants, led by Paul Erokoro, urged the apex court to allow the appeal and dismiss a cross-appeal filed by a rival leadership faction within the party, reportedly aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
In response, opposing parties, including representatives of Sule Lamido, as well as the Wike-aligned group led by Joseph Daudu, filed preliminary objections seeking the dismissal of the appeal.
They argued that the matter does not fall within the scope of internal party affairs and that both the trial court and appellate court acted within their jurisdiction.
The dispute originated from a judgment delivered last year by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Nigeria, which restrained the then leadership of the party from proceeding with the planned convention. The court directed that the exercise should not take place until Sule Lamido was given the opportunity to obtain nomination forms and participate in the process.
Despite this directive, the party went ahead with the convention, maintaining that the issue fell strictly within its internal affairs and was therefore beyond judicial intervention.
However, the Court of Appeal Nigeria subsequently disagreed with that position, ruling that the matter was not purely internal and therefore subject to judicial review. The appellate court consequently nullified the outcome of the convention for being conducted in disobedience to the court’s order.
Dissatisfied with this outcome, the party approached the Supreme Court of Nigeria, seeking to have the appellate court’s decision set aside and to affirm that the matter falls outside the jurisdiction of the courts.
Conversely, the respondents have urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal, maintaining that it lacks merit and that the earlier rulings should stand.
