The national working committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by Kabiru Turaki, has vowed to resist the planned takeover of the party’s headquarters in Abuja by a faction backed by Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
On Thursday, Samuel Anyanwu, national caretaker secretary of
the Wike faction, said the group would take over Wadata Plaza, which houses the
PDP national secretariat.
The party’s headquarters has remained sealed by the police
since a leadership crisis degenerated into violence at the premises last year.
In a statement issued on Friday, Ini Ememobong, spokesperson
of the Turaki group, said the party secretariat remains the subject of pending
litigation.
Ememobong said the group have written to the
inspector-general of police and the FCT command, reminding them that the
secretariat is still a matter before the federal high court, Abuja, and the
court of appeal.
“To this end, any attempt to enter and occupy this property
will be a resort to self-help and an affront to the time-tested principle of
law that parties who have submitted to the jurisdiction of courts should not
act in ways that will render nugatory the powers of the court,” the statement
reads.
“In this particular instance, the case pending before
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik was instituted by the expelled members; they cannot
resort to self-help until judgement is delivered in the matter.”
He said any attempt to reopen the secretariat while the case
is still before the court constitutes contempt of court.
On Thursday, the Turaki faction accused the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) of bias for inviting the Wike group to a
consultative meeting it held with political parties at its headquarters in
Abuja.
The opposition party is polarised into two factions.
Last month, a federal high court in Ibadan, the capital of
Oyo, nullified the national convention held in the state on November 15, 2025.
In the ruling, Uche Agomoh, the presiding judge, declined
the Turaki-led PDP’s request for an order to compel INEC to recognise the
national convention.
Agomoh barred the Turaki-led NWC from parading itself as the
party’s leadership, saying the convention was organised in flagrant disregard
of the court orders.
The judge ruled that PDP cannot disobey court orders and
then approach the court to seek judicial approval for actions taken in defiance
of those orders.
The judge further held that the PDP can only operate through
the caretaker committee until a proper and lawful national convention is held.
Turaki, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), criticised the
verdict, saying the judge granted reliefs that were neither requested nor
argued by any of the parties.
Turaki said the party has filed a notice of appeal as well
as a motion for stay of execution of the judgement, adding that the convention
remains “legally intact, firmly in place, and fully committed to the ongoing
rebirth” of the party.
The convention was backed by Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo,
and Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi.
The national convention was preceded by a series of
conflicting court judgements, with some rulings from federal high courts in
Abuja halting the event over alleged breaches of party constitution and
electoral laws, while the Oyo state high court in Ibadan cleared the PDP to
proceed with the exercise and directed INEC to monitor it.
Wike and his allies were expelled from the party at the
convention.
The Wike group would later form a parallel NWC, a board of
trustees (BoT), and a national executive committee (NEC).
In December, INEC rejected the request to recognise the
Turaki-led NWC, citing multiple court judgements for its decision.
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