Supreme Court judgement: PDP now party without defined leadership — Turaki’s camp

The camp of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Dr Tanimu Turaki has said that Thursday’s judgement by the Supreme Court means the PDP is now without a “defined leadership.”

The apex court panel of five justices, led by Justice Mohammed Garba, in a lead judgment, upheld the nullification of the November 15, 2025, national convention of the party, which produced the Turaki-led NWC.

The Turaki camp, in reacting to the judgment, noted that the court also upheld the suspension of key members of the party, including Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who currently serves as a national officer in the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led camp.

It said the implication was that the PDP had become a party without leadership.

“Today, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, through a five-man panel presided over by Justice Mohammed Garba, in a split decision (3–2), upheld the judgements of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, wherein the convention held in Ibadan was nullified.

“The three Justices (Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, Stephen Adah, and Garba) hinged their judgements on the disrespect of a valid, subsisting judgement of the Federal High Court and therefore held that, being in contempt, the appellants cannot be accommodated in the apex court, thereby dismissing the appeal.

“However, the minority judgements by Justices Haruna Tsammani and Abubakar Umar held that the two appeals emanate from matters which are internal affairs of the PDP and are therefore non-justiciable. The case at the Federal High Court was not challenging any act or decision of any federal government agency but the leadership contest of the party and therefore not justiciable,” the National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ini Ememobong, wrote.

He went on: “Furthermore, they held that it is not the duty of the court to fish out matters to make a case for the respondent, because the majority judgement undertook the duty of raising matters suo motu without calling on the parties to address them. This is against the position of the apex court, wherein parties must be given the opportunity to address the court on matters raised suo motu.

“With this split judgment, which also upheld the Court of Appeal’s suspension of Ajibade, SAN, Anyanwu, and others, this effectively leaves the PDP as a party without a defined leadership.”

The camp added that it would take steps to salvage the PDP but did not explain how, given that the Supreme Court is the court of final instance.

“To this end, we are certain that the existing organs of the party will take the necessary steps to salvage the party and confer leadership on it going forward.

“This leads the vehicle of our party towards a dangerous bend, which, if not carefully navigated, may not only affect the party but also multi-party democracy in our country,” the camp warned.