Why PDP crisis has defied court judgements

The leadership crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued to rage despite several court Judgements on the matter.

As the case reached the Supreme Court, many were hopeful that the matter would finally be  resolved but the apex court jugdement  on 30th April, seems to have exacerbated the matter.

Weekend Trust observes that despite the several efforts at resolution of the conflicts, the situation has remained the same over issues that stakeholders said had to do with, whether to field a presidential candidate or not, which camps within party should produce the national secretary and other interests ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Political analysts who aired their views on the development also blamed deep rooted political animosity, the role of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and even the judiciary that has failed to give a clear judgement and make a categorical statement on which faction between the federal Capital Territory, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike backed group and the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led faction is the authentic leadership of the party.

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Professor Abubakar Kari, a political scientist, is of the view that the ongoing quagmire suits the narrative of those that are happy with the almost comatose state of the PDP, leaving it without the required stamina and legal backing to field candidates for the election.

In their submission, a Civil Society Organisation, CISLAC told Weekend Trust that the future of Nigeria’s democracy depends not only on credible elections but also on political parties that are democratic, transparent, accountable, and capable of managing internal disagreements without undermining public confidence in the democratic process.

According to CISLAC only courts could resolve crisis within political parties.

Judgement with different interpretations

In a split decision of three against two, the Supreme Court panel had held that the national convention of the party of November 15 and 16, 2025, in Ibadan Oyo State was done in violation of subsisting court orders and as such null and void.

However, in their dissenting judgements, Justices Haruna Tsammani and Sadiq Umar and another held that the courts lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the dispute being an internal affair of a political party.

They noted that the appellate court, on its own, raised the issue of disobedience of court order, without allowing the parties to address it on the matter as required by law.

However, while many contended that the judgement will have put an end to the impasse, the situation was not to be as both factions continue to lay claim despite the judgement.

In a statement immediately after the judgement the chairman of the BOT, Senator Adolphus Wabara, said the judgement had left the PDP without a leadership, hence the intervention of the BoT to  avoid leadership vacuum at the national level.

He said, “Sadly, the Supreme Court, today delivered an unpleasant judgment against our party in which it pronounced an invalidation of the 15th to 16th November 2025 National Convention of the PDP held in Ibadan, Oyo State, which produced the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee of our Party.

“While the Supreme Court invalidated the Ibadan Convention, it also in a unanimous decision of the five justices on the panel, upheld the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Umar Bature, Kamaldeen Ajibade as National Secretary, National Organizing Secretary and National Legal Adviser respectively from the party.”

The implication of the judgement, Wabara said is that all actions taken by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Umar Bature and Barr. Kamaldeen Ajibade, including the appointment of Abdulrahman Mohammed, as acting National Chairman, the composition of the National Caretaker Working Committee and the conduct and outcome of the March 29th, 2026 Convention in Abuja are illegal.

Against this backdrop, the BoT immediately assumes responsibility of the national leadership to foster “genuine reconciliation, salvage, stabilize and return the party to good political health”.

How leaving the NWC to contest election sowed seeds of discord

The crisis that culminated in the factionalisation of the PDP started in 2023 when, Senator Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary stepped aside from the position to contest the governorship election of his home state in Imo State.

Anyanwu lost the election to Governor Hope Uzodimma of the All Progressives Congress, APC and immediately staged a comeback to reclaim his seat.

However, in his absence the South East Caucus of the PDP had already nominated a former PDP youth leader, Sunday Udeh-Okoye as his replacement.

The development led to a barrage of litigation that ended up in the Supreme Court finally admitting Anyanwu back to the National Working Committee, NWC.

Before the case reached the Supreme Court, it had caused a serious division within the NWC with the then National Chairman, Umar Damagum backed by the state governors and others supporting Ude-Okoye while the others backed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike supporting Anyanwu.

As the tenure of the National Working Committee under Damagum began to wind down, the fight turned to the battle for the soul of the party.

At the November 15th and 16th National Convention, the governors and Damagum did not only take charge, but efforts to accommodate allies of Wike were rebuffed, with many of them expelled from the party.

Barely 24 hours after, the Wike camp led by Anyanwu announced Abdulrahman Muhammed as acting chairman and announced a new caretaker committee to lead the party, declaring that the Ibadan Convention was done against a subsisting court order.

The Wike camp further went ahead to conduct a convention in Abuja and returned, Abdulrahman Muhammed as national chairman, Senator Anyanwu as national secretary and others as NWC members.

Preparation for 2027

While the Wike backed NWC insists it remains the authentic leadership following the nullification of the Ibadan convention, the BoT under Wabara also inaugurated the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led Interim National Working Committee following what they described as a vacuum created by the Supreme Court.

Turaki and his faction insisted that having been suspended from the party in November, any action taken by Anyanwu and the then National Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade were null and void and as such their faction is illegal.

Already the two factions have been selling nomination and expression of interest forms and already positioned their factional presidential candidates with the Wike backed PDP coming up with Senator Sandy Onor and the Turaki-led faction presenting ex-President Goodluck Jonathan as its presidential candidate.

Even though, the leaders of the Turaki-led faction have approached the court to prevail on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to recognise them as the authentic leadership, the Wike-backed faction led  by Abdulrahman Muhammed remains the leadership of the party recognised by INEC.

INEC yet to justify recognition of Wike backed faction – Kari

Speaking on the impasse, Professor Abubakar Kari, a political scientist told Daily Trust that the problem remains unresolved over the nature of the judgement given by the Supreme Court, but added quickly that it might have also emanated from the nature of the plea.

He said many Nigerians believed that “deliberately, what is happening is an orchestrated grand design to ensure that PDP as a political party is literally emasculated, so much that it will not be able to put up any fight for the 2027 elections. So that it does not constitute any threat against the the ruling party.

“I don’t know whether you have seen what, Professor Sagay said.

“He said the implication of all these ruling is that neither of the factions is recognized by the court, and so it’s not capable of or has the power to present any candidate to INEC.”

He then warned that the Independent National Electoral Commission, might run itself into trouble, saying the court, pronounced the Ibadan Convention as an illegal convention, and at the same time, the court endorsed the suspension on certain officers of the party, including Samuel Anyanwu and the National Legal Adviser Kamaldeen Ajibade and these are the same people that orchestrated the coming of the Abdurrahman faction.

He said the two factions have clearly been removed by the court order and so, technically just like Professor Sagay said. This is elementary interpretation.

Kari explained that the INEC recognition of the Wike backed PDP is  “curious and that is the problem that is going to put INEC in trouble. Because, INEC has now played into the hands of those who believe that it is tilting towards one direction.

“Because I’m surprised that being a professor of law, INEC Chairman and others there, there are several other lawyers there. There is even a legal department. There is no basis for recognizing the Abdurrahman-led faction”, he said.

CISLAC: Courts can clarify but cannot resolve party issues

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) on its part said while court judgements can “clarify legal issues, but political crises ultimately require political solutions, dialogue, compromise, and respect for party institutions.”

Comrade Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of CISLAC further said the organisation also viewed the prolonged internal dispute of the party as a reflection of weak internal party democracy, adding that it is caused by “excessive reliance on litigation to resolve political disagreements, and the inability of party leaders to place institutional interests above factional interests.”

Rafsanjani said even though the Supreme Court delivered judgments aimed at clarifying aspects of the PDP leadership dispute, the inability of the judgment to fully resolve the crisis can be attributed to “Deep political divisions within the party that go beyond legal questions and are rooted in competing power blocs.

“Lack of trust among party stakeholders, making judicial pronouncements insufficient to secure political reconciliation and  absence of effective internal conflict-resolution mechanisms, forcing disputes to linger even after court decisions.”

CISLAC warned that if rival factions proceed to nominate different candidates for the 2027 elections, the consequences could be Candidates risking Disqualification, Weakening of Opposition Politics, Voter Confusion and Loss of Confidence and Ultimately leading to Increased Litigation Before Elections.

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