The Supreme Court of Nigeria has declared the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party held on November 15 and 16, 2025, in Ibadan, Oyo State, “null, void and of no effect,” nullifying in its entirety the convention that produced Kabiru Turaki SAN as National Chairman and the entire National Working Committee that the convention elected, with the court condemning the PDP’s conduct in holding the convention in defiance of a subsisting Federal High Court order as “nothing but madness, gross irresponsibility, quite contemptuous and clearly making a mockery of a very serious business.”
The judgment, delivered on Thursday, April 30, 2026, by a five-member panel of the Supreme Court, was decided by a 3-2 majority, with Justices Stephen Jonah Adah (who wrote the lead judgment), Chioma Egondu Nwosu-Iheme, and Mohammed Lawal Garba forming the majority, while Justices Haruna Simon Tsammani and Abubakar Sadiq Umar dissented.
The ruling effectively wipes out the Turaki-led National Working Committee in its entirety, meaning every officer elected at the Ibadan convention, from the National Chairman to the National Secretary to every other national officer, holds no valid position. All decisions taken at the convention, all appointments made by the Turaki NWC, and all actions flowing from the convention are similarly voided.
The judgment does not install any alternative leadership but, by nullifying the convention, returns the PDP to the leadership structure that existed before November 15, 2025, which was the Umar Iliya Damagun-led acting NWC from which the convention process originated.
Two Appeals, One Outcome
The Supreme Court determined two related appeals arising from the same PDP convention crisis.
SC/CV/164/2026 originated from the suit filed by Alhaji Sule Lamido at the Federal High Court, in which Lamido, a former Jigawa State Governor and PDP presidential aspirant, challenged the party’s refusal to sell him a nomination form to contest for the position of National Chairman at the convention. The Federal High Court ruled in Lamido’s favour and ordered the PDP to sell him the form and suspend the convention until it complied. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment. The PDP appealed to the Supreme Court.
SC/CV/166/2026 originated from the suit filed by three PDP state-level officials Hon. Austine Nwachukwu (PDP Chairman, Imo State), Hon. Amah Abraham Nnanna (PDP Chairman, Abia State), and Turnah Alabh George (PDP Secretary, South-South Zone) who challenged the conduct of the convention on grounds that proper congresses had not been held to elect delegates, that the mandatory 21-day notice to INEC was defective, and that the convention violated the PDP’s own constitution and the Electoral Act. Senator Samuel Anyanwu (National Secretary), Hon. Umar Bature (National Organizing Secretary), and Umar Iliya Damagun (National Chairman) were among the respondents in this case.
Both appeals were dismissed by the majority, meaning the Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal that had ruled against the PDP.
“The Rule Of Law Is Not An Ornamental Ideal”
Justice Adah, who delivered the lead judgment in the first appeal, provided one of the most powerful judicial condemnations of political party lawlessness in recent Nigerian legal history.
“The recurring spectacle of calculated defiance of law and judicial authority by political actors in Nigeria must be condemned in the strongest possible terms,” Justice Adah stated. “The rule of law is not an ornamental ideal to be invoked in rhetoric and discarded in practice; it is the foundational architecture upon which the legitimacy of governance rests.”
“A democracy cannot survive where those who seek to govern operate outside the law. The erosion of legal norms breeds instability, weakens institutions, and ultimately destroys public confidence in governance. The rule of law demands fidelity, not convenience; obedience, not opportunism,” the justice declared.
The court’s most devastating finding was that the PDP, having received an unfavourable order from the Federal High Court directing it to suspend the convention, did not appeal the order as the law requires but instead went to a court of coordinate jurisdiction, obtained a contradictory order, and proceeded to hold the convention in defiance of the Federal High Court’s original order.
The court’s most devastating finding was that the PDP, having received an unfavourable order from the Federal High Court directing it to suspend the convention, did not appeal the order as the law requires but instead went to a court of coordinate jurisdiction, obtained a contradictory order, and proceeded to hold the convention in defiance of the Federal High Court’s original order.
“The appellant not only contemptuously ignored the order of the Federal High Court. The appellant did not go on appeal as is her right under the Constitution but went to another High Court of coordinate jurisdiction to obtain an order of that court to override the existing order of the Federal High Court and carried on with the Party Convention,” Justice Adah stated.
“What this is, is nothing but an abuse of process ridiculing the due administration of justice in Nigeria. Contempt of court is not as horrifying as an abuse of the process of court. In clear terms what is grievous here is the act of abuse and interfering with the due process of administration of justice. This type of abuse of court process is unpardonable,” the justice declared.
“Madness And Gross Irresponsibility”
Justice Nwosu-Iheme, in her concurring judgment in the second appeal, used language that was even more forceful.
“Not only did they flagrantly disobey the orders of the Federal High Court, they proceeded to taunt the Court by going to a High Court in Oyo State which is clearly a court of coordinate jurisdiction to get a counter-order in their favour,” Justice Nwosu-Iheme stated.