PDP staff said they had taken note of the Ibadan judgment but described it as inconsistent with established Supreme Court authorities on the internal affairs of political parties.
The management and staff of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its training arm, the Peoples Democratic Institute (PDI), have rejected the recent judgment of the Federal High Court in Ibadan on the leadership crisis rocking the opposition party, insisting that the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, SAN–led National Working Committee (NWC) remains the only legitimate leadership of the party.
In a statement dated February 3, 2026, the PDP staff said they had taken note of the Ibadan judgment but described it as inconsistent with established Supreme Court authorities on the internal affairs of political parties.
The staff reaffirmed their “recognition, loyalty and allegiance” to the Turaki-led NWC, which they said was “duly and legally elected” at the party’s National Convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, between November 15 and 16, 2025.
According to the statement, the Ibadan convention and all resolutions reached there remain valid, having been conducted in line with the PDP Constitution and the party’s long-standing principle of supremacy over its internal affairs.
"That the staff of the PDP, as custodians of the PDP Secretariat, will not align with or recognize any other unauthorised leadership apart from the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki SAN-led National Working Committee (NWC) because the leadership was validly elected at the National Convention sanctioned by all the legitimate organs of the Party,” the statement said, stressing that the leadership emerged from a convention sanctioned by all legitimate organs of the party.
The PDP staff also referenced a “plethora of Supreme Court judgments,” arguing that issues of party membership, leadership, congresses, and conventions are internal matters beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.
"That, it is already established in plethora of judgments of the Supreme Court that issues of membership, leadership, congresses and Conventions of a political party are entirely the internal affairs of the Party requiring only the Party internal mechanism to which the courts have no jurisdiction to interfere or interrogate," it said.
They maintained that there was no legal encumbrance against the conduct of the Ibadan convention, noting that it was convened by the National Executive Committee (NEC) at its 101st meeting on July 24, 2025, pursuant to Section 31(2)(a) of the PDP Constitution.
On compliance with electoral laws, the staff said the party fulfilled all statutory requirements under Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022, including notifying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which they said was in attendance at the convention.
They also referenced the recent Supreme Court judgment in INEC v. SDP & Ors, where the apex court reportedly reaffirmed that political parties are only required to notify INEC of conventions, congresses or meetings, a requirement the PDP said it fully complied with.
The statement argued that under the Electoral Act, the only circumstance under which a convention could be voided is where INEC was not notified, which, according to the PDP staff, does not apply in this case.
Raising concerns over multiple court rulings, the staff described as “surprising” earlier judgments by Justices Kolawale Omotosho and Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which were based on suits filed by what they described as “two former members of the party.”
They added that the Ibadan judgment was particularly troubling because the subject matter is already before an appellate court on the issue of jurisdiction.
"It is of particular concern that Justice Agomoh accused our party of conducting the Convention in disobedience to the order of court when actually, the judge was made aware of the ruling by the Oyo State High Court which ordered our Party to conduct the exercise," it stated.
The PDP staff concluded by warning that attempts to impose leadership through the courts pose a serious threat to internal democracy within political parties and urged respect for established constitutional and judicial principles governing party affairs.