Justice Ladiran Akintola of the Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan Friday upheld the 2025 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention of November 15 and 16, 2025 in Ibadan, which produced the National Working Committee led by Tanimu Turaki.
Justice Akintola who heard the case at Court 5 delivered the judgment shortly after deciding on an application seeking joinder in the matter.
He granted all 13 reliefs Folahan Malomo Adelabi sought through his counsel, Musbau Adetunmbi.
Also, the Court of Appeal, on February 12, after hearing all consolidated cases relating to the PDP leadership dispute, reserved judgment, with the date for the ruling to be communicated to the parties.
21st CENTURY CHRONICLE reports that Justice Akintola’s ruling did not go down well with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike’s faction which dismissed it as inconsequential and not binding.
The faction’s caretaker committee led by Mohammed Abdulrahman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu, in a statement issued on Friday by its spokesperson, Jungudo Mohammed, maintained that the November 2025 convention remains invalid.
It said the existing judgments of the Federal High Court had earlier barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from attending or monitoring the exercise, thereby making the Oyo State High Court’s ruling ineffectual on the issue.
Wike’s faction said “it is important to state clearly that the court that delivered today’s judgment was the same court that earlier granted an interim order to Mr Damagum and his co-travellers, permitting them to proceed with their Amala Convention held on the 15th and 16th of November 2025, despite two valid Federal High Court judgments. So, this is not news.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the said judgment does not bind the Independent National Electoral Commission, as INEC was neither joined nor represented as a party in the suit. To say the least, INEC challenged the jurisdiction of the Oyo State High Court, which the court later agreed to in a ruling delivered by the judge and subsequently struck out the name of INEC.
“A judgment that does not bind INEC is of no consequence whatsoever as far as the issues at stake are concerned. The judgment has no legal effect whatsoever on the conduct, monitoring, or recognition of any party convention purported to have been held on the 15th and 16th of November 2026.
“It bears reiterating that INEC has already complied with two subsisting judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which expressly restrained the Commission from attending, monitoring, or recognising the outcome of the purported convention. INEC has equally complied with the judgment of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, which nullified the said convention and restrained Kabiru Turaki and his associates from parading themselves as leaders of the party.
“In light of the foregoing, the National Caretaker Working Committee of the party wishes to assure loyal party members and the general public that all arrangements towards the conduct of congresses and the National Convention have reached an advanced stage.”
It would be recalled that a Federal High Court On January 30, sitting in Ibadan nullified the PDP National Convention conducted on November 15, 2025, in Ibadan, Oyo State, and ordered Tanimu Turaki (SAN) and others to stop parading themselves as national officers of the party.
Before the judgment, PDP governors had backed the Ibadan convention, which produced Turaki and members of the National Working Committee for a four-year tenure.
The governors had also overseen a transition from former Chairman Umar Damagum to Turaki ahead of the expiration of Damagum’s tenure on December 9.
