The Supreme Court’s ruling on the PDP crisis is narrower and more damning than most headlines admit. It did two things, not one.
- Ibadan convention voided for contempt
In a 3-2 decision, the Court nullified the November 2025 Ibadan convention that produced the Turaki‑led NWC because it violated a subsisting court order. However, this does not wipe out the earlier ward to state congresses that were properly monitored by INEC and uploaded to its server. Those foundational structures remain valid. - Suspensions upheld – the fatal blow to the Wike faction
The Court also dismissed the cross‑appeal by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Kamaldeen Ajibade (SAN), and others, thereby affirming their suspension. Anyanwu and Ajibade were under a valid suspension when they purported to act for the party.
WHY THE WIKE FACTION COLLAPSES
The entire parallel structure of the Wike group – its congresses (never monitored by INEC), its March 2026 convention, and the Abdulrahman Mohammed NWC – derives from Senator Samuel Anyanwu. Since his suspension has been upheld by the Supreme Court, every action taken from that poisoned root is “illegal, null and ab initio void.” The Court explicitly declared the March 2026 convention “an illegality and non‑existent in the eyes of the law.”
WHERE THE PDP NOW STANDS
Two leaderships (Turaki and Mohammed) are invalid. The Board of Trustees (BoT) rightly holds that the statutory duty falls on it to convene the NEC and appoint an interim NWC. The PDP is not dead – only its illegitimate factions have been amputated. The path forward is the rule of law, not factional fiction.
CAN THE TURAKI‑LED STRUCTURE (WARD TO STATE) NOW ACT AND SELL NOMINATION FORMS FOR STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS?
The short answer is NO – not yet, and not through the voided Turaki NWC.
While the ward, local government, and state congresses that were properly monitored by INEC remain valid as foundational structures, they do not by themselves constitute a functioning National Working Committee (NWC) with the legal authority to sell nomination forms, issue directives, or hold themselves out as the national leadership of the PDP.
Here is the critical distinction:
· Valid structures (the state executives, ward chairmen, etc., elected during the monitored congresses) are not nullified. They exist and can perform routine party functions at their respective levels.
· However, the power to issue and sell nomination forms for any election – state House of Assembly, National Assembly, or governorship – resides with the National Working Committee or a properly constituted National Executive Committee acting under the party’s constitution and INEC guidelines. No state executive has the unilateral authority to print or sell nomination forms for legislative elections without a valid national leadership.
Because the Turaki‑led NWC that emerged from the voided Ibadan convention has been stripped of all legal standing, that particular leadership cannot lawfully sell nomination forms or conduct any national party business. To attempt to do so would be to act under the same contempt‑tainted convention that the Supreme Court has nullified.
So what is the way forward for PDP members who wish to contest state House of Assembly elections?
The BoT has already announced that it will convene an emergency NEC meeting to appoint an interim NWC. Until that interim leadership is in place and recognized by INEC, no faction has the lawful authority to sell nomination forms. Any nomination forms sold by either the Turaki group or the Mohammed group would likely be declared invalid by the courts, exposing purchasers to massive financial losses.
Practical advice to our party members in Edo State and across Nigeria:
Do not buy nomination forms from either faction. Wait for the BoT‑led process to produce a unified, court‑recognized interim NWC. That is the only safe path. The valid state structures we have can remain intact and operational for party mobilization, but the sale of nomination forms is a national function that must wait for a legitimate national leadership.
In summary: The valid ward‑to‑state congresses are not void, but they cannot bypass the need for a lawful NWC. The Turaki faction as a national leadership cannot act. The Wike faction cannot act. The BoT is now the lawful custodian of the party’s interim authority. Patience and adherence to due process will save our party from further legal humiliation.
The PDP shall rise again – but only through the rule of law, not the law of the jungle.
Barr. Alari Felix
Publicity Secretary, PDP Edo State
