A Federal High Court judge has scheduled July 10 for a ruling on which faction, the one aligned with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike or the mainstream Interim National Working Committee led by Tanimu Turaki, holds the authentic leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, after hearing arguments from both sides.
Justice Salim Ibrahim heard the case after taking arguments on a suit filed by PDP Board of Trustees Chairman Adolphus Wabara and eight others, who are seeking an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to formally recognise the Turaki led interim committee, arguing INEC has failed to upload the names of that committee’s members to its website ahead of the 2027 general election. The Wabara led Board of Trustees had installed the interim leadership after the Supreme Court, in an April ruling, nullified the November 2025 national convention in Ibadan that originally produced Turaki’s national executive; separately, when the tenure of an earlier interim leadership under Ambassador Iliya Damagun expired last December, the Wike faction installed its own interim executive, which produced the leadership currently under Abdulrahman Mohammed. As things stand, INEC’s website recognises the Wike aligned faction, the arrangement the Wabara camp is now challenging in court.
Plaintiffs in the case include former Niger State Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu as Board of Trustees Secretary, former Minister of Information Jerry Gana, PDP chieftain Olabode George, former Minister of Women Affairs Maryam Ciroma, another former holder of that post Zainab Maina, and Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee member Esther Uduehi, who together are asking the court to direct INEC to update its records and publish the interim committee as forwarded by the plaintiffs and the National Executive Committee, arguing the relevant names, sent via letters dated May 4, have simply never been uploaded. Ibrahim granted a joinder application from the Wike faction, which opposed the suit and argued the Supreme Court has already resolved the leadership question, framing the matter as an internal party affair the court has no business entertaining, a position the plaintiffs rejected, arguing their case is properly between the PDP and INEC and pointing to an earlier Federal High Court ruling by Justice James Omotosho that found a related matter was not simply an internal party dispute. Having heard both sides, Ibrahim set July 10 for judgment.
