Abuja, Nigeria — Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, a senior federal appellate court based in the capital city of Abuja, has upheld a decision stopping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one of Nigeria’s main opposition political parties, from holding a disputed national convention in the southwestern city of Ibadan, located in Oyo State, southwestern Nigeria.
Okay News reports that the ruling followed an appeal filed by a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party led by Kabiru Turaki, a former Minister of Special Duties in the federal government of Nigeria and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), which is the country’s highest rank for legal practitioners.
The Turaki-led faction had challenged the authority of the Federal High Court of Nigeria to hear a case concerning the party’s proposed national convention scheduled for Saturday, November 15 and Sunday, November 16, 2026, in Ibadan.
The appellate court delivered its judgment through a three-member panel that reviewed nine related appeals filed by the Turaki-led faction. The appeals also contested an earlier court order that had prevented the party from holding a planned National Convention originally scheduled for Friday, November 14 and Saturday, November 15, 2025.
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal confirmed the earlier judgment delivered by the Federal High Court. The lower court had issued an order preventing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s national election management body responsible for supervising political party activities and elections, from recognising or validating the proposed convention.
The appellate judges ruled that the Federal High Court had full legal authority to hear the case, rejecting the argument by the Turaki-led faction that the dispute should be treated strictly as an internal party matter.
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.”
Following the decision, the court dismissed the appeal and ordered the appellants to pay legal costs of ₦2,000,000 (about $1,300).
The judgment represents another development in the ongoing internal dispute within the Peoples Democratic Party, which has experienced factional tensions in recent years as it prepares for future political contests, including Nigeria’s next general elections expected in 2027.
Further legal and political reactions are expected as the case continues to shape the party’s internal leadership process and preparations for its national convention.
