Nigeria’s Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising the outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party’s national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision delivered by a three-member panel led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, dismissed an appeal filed by a faction of the PDP led by a former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki, SAN, which had challenged the jurisdiction of the lower court to entertain the suit.
The brief formed part of nine harmonised appeals brought by the Turaki-led faction against the October 31, 2025 judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which barred INEC from validating the outcome of the party’s November 15 and 16, 2025 national convention in Ibadan.
In its ruling, the Court of Appeal affirmed that the Federal High Court had jurisdiction to hear the suit, rejecting the argument that the dispute was merely an internal affair of the party.
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 held.
Justice Onyemenam further held that the PDP failed to comply with the constitutional and statutory provisions required before a valid national convention could be held.
The court stated among other findings, that no valid notice of the convention was served on INEC as required by law and that valid congresses were not conducted in more than 14 states before the convention was convened.