The Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appealed a Federal High Court ruling that annulled the party’s November 2025 convention and recognized a caretaker committee backed by Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike.
Addressing journalists on Friday, Turaki said the party remained legally intact and unshaken as it awaited the pronouncement of appellate courts.
The Federal High Court in Ibadan had earlier on Friday invalidated the PDP National Convention held on Nov. 15, 2025, and ordered Turaki and others to stop presenting themselves as national officers of the party.
Justice Uche Agomoh ruled that the caretaker committee headed by Mohammed Abdulrahman and Samuel Anyanwu remains the only recognized National Working Committee of the PDP until a valid national convention is held.
The November convention had been supported by PDP governors, at which Turaki and other members of his NWC were elected for a four-year term. Wike, along with Abdulrahman and Anyanwu, however, insisted they remained in office as acting national chairman and national secretary, respectively.
Although the governors oversaw a smooth transition from former PDP National Chairman Umar Damagum to Turaki before Damagum’s tenure ended on Dec. 9, the Wike-aligned faction went ahead on Dec. 8 to constitute a 13-member caretaker committee with a 60-day mandate.
Both factions have been seeking recognition from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which has so far declined to recognize either group, leading to several court cases ahead of the 2027 general election.
Reacting to the judgment, Turaki described it as largely “academic,” urging the Court of Appeal to consolidate all pending party-related cases to produce a single binding ruling.
He said the NWC had filed a Notice of Appeal and a Motion for Stay of Execution and would pursue the matter to its legal conclusion. “More importantly, the judgment is in material conflict with subsisting orders and previous judgments of courts of coordinate jurisdiction,” he said.
Turaki added, “Notwithstanding this judgment, the National Working Committee produced by the Ibadan Convention remains legally intact, firmly in place, and fully committed to the ongoing rebirth of the Peoples Democratic Party.”
He called on PDP members and supporters nationwide to remain calm, noting that multiple appeals are already pending before the Court of Appeal, including judgments by Justices Lifu, Omotosho, and Abdulmalik.
