The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the party’s leadership, describing the case as an abuse of court process and imposing a total cost of N140 million on the plaintiffs.
Justice Salim Ibrahim, who delivered the judgment on Friday, also ordered the plaintiffs’ counsel, Chris Uche, to personally pay N10 million, warning against the filing of frivolous cases involving the internal affairs of political parties.
The judge held that the cost awarded against the plaintiffs was consistent with Section 83(6)(b) of the Electoral Act, 2026.
The suit, filed by members of the Adolphus Wabara-led BoT, sought an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the interim National Working Committee (NWC) led by Kabiru Turaki.
The plaintiffs argued that the names of the Turaki-led executives had been submitted to INEC through letters dated May 4.
Those listed as plaintiffs included former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, former Information Minister Jerry Gana, PDP chieftain Olabode George, Maryam Ciroma, Zainab Maina, Esther Uduehi and the PDP.
However, a rival PDP faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, challenged the court’s jurisdiction and sought to be joined in the case.
The faction was led by National Chairman Mohammed Abdulrahman, National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu and National Legal Adviser Kamardeen Ajibade.
Another lawyer, Sunday Ameh, also challenged the inclusion of the PDP as a plaintiff, arguing that the party never authorised the suit.
Delivering judgment, Justice Ibrahim agreed that the Wabara-led BoT lacked the legal authority to institute the action on behalf of the PDP.
The court consequently struck out the PDP as the eighth plaintiff and held that the remaining plaintiffs had no authority to sue in the party’s name.
The judge also granted the applications filed by Abdulrahman, Anyanwu, Ajibade, Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah and George Turner to be joined as defendants in the matter.
On the preliminary objections, the court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction because the dispute concerned the internal affairs of a political party.
Justice Ibrahim further held that the plaintiffs failed to establish any legal basis for the reliefs they sought.
He affirmed the leadership of the Abdulrahman-led PDP faction, noting that previous judgments recognising the leadership had not been overturned.
The court also held that the March convention that produced the current leadership was conducted in line with an existing court judgment.
According to the judge, the fresh suit amounted to an attempt to relitigate issues that had already been settled by the courts.
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