The Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan has nullified the elective convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, held in the Oyo State capital, declaring all actions and outcomes from the exercise invalid.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, Justice Uche Agomoh set aside the convention which produced Saminu Turaki, SAN, and other members of the party’s purported national leadership, holding that the exercise lacked legal foundation and was conducted in violation of subsisting court orders.
The judgement followed a suit marked FHC/IB/CS/121/2025, filed by the executive council that emerged from the Ibadan convention.
The claimants had approached the court seeking validation of the convention and judicial endorsement of its outcome.
The suit was instituted by the PDP against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and six other defendants.
However, Justice Agomoh dismissed the application in its entirety, ruling that it was devoid of merit and unsupported by the relevant provisions of law.
According to the court, the application amounted to what it described as a brazen attempt by the claimants to legitimize actions carried out in defiance of existing court judgements.
“I cannot allow that or sit on appeal over those judgements,” the judge held. “The application fails and is hereby dismissed.”
The court further ruled that all structures, decisions and authorities arising from the Ibadan convention stood completely nullified.
Reacting to the ruling, lead counsel to the PDP Caretaker Committee, Chief Ferdinand Oshioke Orbih, SAN, welcomed the judgement, describing it as a victory for democracy and the rule of law.
Orbih said the claimants had sought judicial backing for what he termed an illegally conducted convention, an attempt the court firmly rejected.
“The judgement has affirmed that the rule of law must prevail over political expediency,” he said. “All actions and structures arising from the convention have been completely nullified.”
He added that the decision reinforced the legitimacy of the PDP Caretaker Committee to continue managing the affairs of the party pending the conduct of a valid elective convention in strict compliance with the law.
According to him, the ruling sends a strong signal to political actors on the consequences of disregarding court orders, warning that continued disrespect for the rule of law could breed instability within the democratic process.
The judgement effectively restores the status quo within the party and ties back to earlier court pronouncements restraining the conduct of the Ibadan convention.