A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Kabiru Turaki has said the party’s organs will determine the next course of action to prevent the opposition party from collapsing after the Supreme Court invalidated its convention held in Ibadan last November.
Spokesperson for the Turaki-led faction, Ini Ememobong, made this known in a statement on Thursday while reacting to the court’s ruling.
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In a split 3-2 decision, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court upheld the judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, both of which nullified the Ibadan convention that produced the Turaki’s faction.
Delivering the lead judgment, Stephen Adah held that the convention was conducted in defiance of existing court orders.
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Mr Adah and two oher justices, Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, and Muhammed Garba ruled that the faction’s actions amounted to contempt of court due to its disregard for a subsisting Federal High Court judgment, and therefore dismissed the appeal.
However, dissenting opinions by Haruna Tsammani and Abubakar Umar argued that the appeals arose from the internal affairs of the PDP and were therefore non-justiciable.
The judgement effectively strengthens the rival faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, in the ongoing leadership struggle. The Wike-backed faction held its own convention in March, electing Abdulrahman Mohammed and others as substantive members of the National Working Committee (NWC).
Party faces leadership uncertainty
Mr Ememobong said the judgment has effectively left the PDP without a clearly defined leadership structure.
He, however, expressed confidence that the party’s existing organs would take necessary steps to stabilise the party and restore leadership.
“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.
“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,” he said.
He further warned that the crisis could have implications beyond the PDP, potentially threatening Nigeria’s multi-party democratic system.
“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,” he stated.
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In the PDP, the ‘organs’ refer to the party’s constitutionally recognised decision-making and administrative structures at national, state, and local levels. These bodies are responsible for leadership, policy direction, dispute resolution, and party administration.
Traditionally when party says “the organs of the party will decide,” they usually mean bodies like: National Executive Committee (NEC), Board of Trustees (BoT), National Working Committee (NWC) and possibly an emergency National Convention.
These organs have the authority to recognise legitimate leadership, organise fresh conventions, resolve internal disputes and amend structures or leadership arrangements.
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