The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal filed by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party led by former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki, SAN, which challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court over a suit concerning the party’s proposed convention in Ibadan.
The convention was scheduled to hold on November 15 and 16, 2026.
PUNCH Online reports that a three-member panel of the appellate court delivered judgment in nine consolidated appeals filed by the Turaki-led faction of the PDP. The appeals also challenged an earlier court order that restrained the party from holding its planned National Convention on November 14 and 15, 2025.
In a unanimous ruling, the court upheld the decision of the lower court, which barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from recognising the proposed convention.
The appellate court ruled that the Federal High Court had the authority to hear the case, dismissing the claim by the Turaki-led faction that the matter was strictly an internal party affair.
According to the panel, the appellants could not “repackage a clear violation of the party constitution and that of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as an internal party affair.”
The court subsequently dismissed the appeal and awarded a cost of N2m against the appellants.
Details later.
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