Despite a Tuesday court order stopping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from holding it’s National Congress November 15- 16, the party is pressing on with preparations for its elective national convention.
The deputy spokesperson of the party, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said the last court ruling stopping the convention was “a waste of time,” maintaining that the party was guided by a subsisting Supreme Court judgment affirming that political parties have exclusive authority over their internal affairs.
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja who on Tuesday stopped the PDP from holding the convention, directly contradicts a ruling by the Oyo State High Court, which cleared the party to proceed with the national convention.
While describing Tuesday’s ruling as a “procured judgments,” Abdullahi said the PDP was formed by Nigerians, not by the courts.
“The judgment is a waste of time. We have gone too far to be asked to stop,” he said. “We are not a political party founded by a court of law but by Nigerians, and we are expected to listen to Nigerians, not to procured judgments.
“There’s no way they will stop us. We have a subsisting Supreme Court judgment that says the internal affairs of parties are within their exclusive rights, and we’re adhering to that. Even if anyone chooses to ignore the Oyo State High Court order that authorised us to go ahead, they cannot ignore the Supreme Court’s decision. We cannot be playing to the gallery of conflicting court decisions. We’ve gone too far; there’s no stopping us.
“Let them wait. When we finish, let them try not to recognise it, if they can. In any case, they can always appeal the judgment, but we are moving ahead.”
The party has actually brushed aside the Tuesday court order as it’s officials were at the Ibadan venue of the national convention to inspect facilities and level of preparations so far.
The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Barrister Bayo Lawal, who is the Chairman of the Venue Subcommittee of the 2025 PDP National Convention, led the inspection at the Lekan Salami Stadium.
The committee members met with stadium managers and contractors to finalise logistics ahead of Saturday’s convention.
