The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city and seat of the federal government, has fixed Thursday, January Twenty Third, Two Thousand And Twenty Five, to hear an application seeking a stay of proceedings in the deepening leadership crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party, one of Nigeria’s major opposition political parties.
The application was filed by the faction of the party led by Kabiru Turaki, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Minister of Special Duties, challenging a suit instituted by a rival faction aligned with Nyesom Wike, Nigeria’s Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and a former Governor of Rivers State in southern Nigeria. Okay News reports that the case has become a focal point in the prolonged internal struggle over the party’s national leadership structure.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court adjourned the matter on Wednesday, January Fourteenth, Two Thousand And Twenty Six, to allow the legal team representing the plaintiffs, led by Onyechi Ikpeazu, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to formally respond to the motion seeking a stay of proceedings.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, was filed by the Wike-aligned faction of the Peoples Democratic Party through its Acting National Chairman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, and its factional National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu. The plaintiffs are asking the court to restrain members of the Turaki-led faction, listed as Fifth to Twenty Fifth defendants, from presenting themselves as legitimate national officers or representatives of the party.
In addition, the plaintiffs are seeking orders stopping Nigeria’s security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services, from granting the Turaki faction access to the party’s national headquarters located at Wadata Plaza in Abuja. They further requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission, Nigeria’s election management body, be restrained from accepting any office address submitted by the Turaki faction other than the address already officially recorded.
The plaintiffs also urged the court to declare that the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Department of State Services are legally bound to enforce previous judgments delivered by Justice James Omotosho and Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in related matters.
Earlier in the proceedings, Justice Abdulmalik had granted an ex parte order directing all parties to maintain the status quo and refrain from taking any steps that could affect the subject matter of the suit pending its determination.
Dissatisfied with that decision, the Turaki-led faction filed an appeal and submitted a motion seeking a stay of proceedings. The faction also filed a separate motion on notice requesting that Justice Abdulmalik recuse herself from the case, alleging bias.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Ikpeazu informed the court that it had previously ruled that all pending applications would be heard alongside the substantive suit and stated that the plaintiffs were prepared to proceed. However, counsel to the Turaki faction, Chief Chris Uche, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told the court that an appeal had already been entered at the Court of Appeal.
“We filed an appeal against my lord’s decision and we have a duty to report to your lordship that that appeal has now been entered in the Court of Appeal numbered: CA/ABJ/CV/1770/2025,” Uche said.
“We have also filed an affidavit of facts of entering the appeal in order to bring to your knowledge the entry of the appeal. Records have been fully transmitted and the plaintiffs are very much aware and have taken steps to file processes in the appeal.”
Uche argued that once an appeal has been entered, the trial court ought to suspend further proceedings. He cited the legal precedent in Secondus versus Ibaochi Alex and urged the court to adjourn the matter sine die.
Ikpeazu countered the argument, insisting that the filing of an appeal does not automatically operate as a stay of proceedings. He cited provisions of the Court of Appeal Rules, noting that the appeal in question arose from an interlocutory decision rather than a final judgment.
Justice Abdulmalik asked whether the plaintiffs had been served with the motion for stay of proceedings. Ikpeazu responded that service was effected late on Tuesday. The judge consequently directed the plaintiffs to file a formal response and adjourned the matter to Thursday, January Twenty Third, for hearing of the stay application.
In the recusal motion, Uche urged the judge to step aside and remit the case file to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment. He claimed that the defendants had earlier petitioned the Chief Judge against assigning internal party disputes involving the Peoples Democratic Party to Justice Abdulmalik and two other judges, alleging perceived partisanship.
Uche further alleged that although the suit was filed on Friday, November Twenty First, Two Thousand And Twenty Five, the court issued an ex parte order four days later using what he described as a template similar to orders made by another judge in related cases, and without what he considered sufficient urgency.
Speaking to journalists after the hearing, Jungudo Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party National Working Caretaker Committee, expressed confidence that the court would grant the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs.
“As you are aware, previously, there were two final judgments of the Federal High Court stopping any planned convention in Oyo. Unfortunately, some recalcitrant members of the party went ahead and conducted that convention,” he said.
“The main substantive issue here is that we are praying the court to restrict those people parading themselves as national officers of the party.”
