A Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, a major city in south western Nigeria and the capital of Oyo State, has nullified the national convention held by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), one of Nigeria’s main opposition parties, on Saturday, 15 November, 2025.
Reports said the court also barred Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, a Nigerian lawyer with the Senior Advocate of Nigeria rank, and other officials elected at the convention from presenting themselves as the party’s national officers.
The decision affects the convention held at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Adamasingba, Ibadan, where delegates gathered for the party’s elective national convention aimed at choosing members of its National Working Committee, including a national chairman, ahead of Nigeria’s next general elections in 2027.
Reports has it that the court, in addition to nullifying the convention, recognised a caretaker leadership led by Abdulrahman and Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the only National Working Committee pending the conduct of a valid national convention.
The ruling follows months of internal disputes and legal battles over the planned Ibadan convention. In an earlier case, journalists reported that on Friday, 14 November, 2025, Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the PDP from proceeding with the convention after a suit by Sule Lamido, a former governor of Jigawa State in northern Nigeria, who complained he was denied the opportunity to buy a nomination form to contest for national chairman.
Although the PDP went ahead with the Ibadan convention despite the controversies, the latest judgement has now raised fresh uncertainty about the legitimacy of the leadership produced by the 15 November vote and what steps the party will take next.