Confusion has enveloped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following a Supreme Court judgment that nullified the party’s two rival leadership factions, triggering fresh claims and counterclaims over who is in charge.
The apex court, in a landmark ruling on Thursday, invalidated both the Kabiru Turaki-led and Abdulrahman Mohammed-led factions, citing breaches of subsisting court orders in the conduct of their respective conventions.
The judgment has left the opposition party without a clearly defined national leadership, with key figures advancing divergent interpretations of the verdict.
On one hand, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, a central figure in the Abdulrahman Mohammed faction, insisted that the ruling effectively validated his group’s position.
“The Supreme Court has validated our convention and set aside all claims to any parallel structure. What this means is that the PDP has come to stay as one united party,” Wike said.
However, the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Adolphus Wabara, offered a sharply different interpretation, declaring that the BoT had assumed interim leadership of the party to avert a vacuum.
“It is with the utmost sense of duty and responsibility that the BoT of the PDP assumes leadership of our great party today… pursuant to the empowering provisions of the Constitution of the PDP,” Wabara said.
He explained that the court’s decision invalidated the November 2025 national convention held in Ibadan, which produced the Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee, as well as subsequent actions taken by the rival faction.
“The implication of today’s judgment, is that all actions taken, including the appointment of Abdulrahman Mohammed as Acting National Chairman and the conduct and outcome of the March 29, 2026 Convention in Abuja are illegal, null and void,” he added.
Wabara further argued that, with both factions dissolved, the responsibility for stabilising the party now rests with the BoT as the second highest organ under the party’s constitution.
“Against this backdrop, the BoT hereby immediately assumes responsibility… to foster genuine reconciliation, salvage, stabilise and return the party to good political health,” he stated.
He disclosed that an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) would be convened soon to establish an interim National Working Committee.
The crisis stems from prolonged internal disputes that saw parallel conventions and competing leadership structures emerge within the PDP, deepening divisions ahead of the 2027 general elections.
While Wike maintained that the Supreme Court did not pronounce the suspension of key officials in his faction, Wabara insisted that the verdict upheld earlier decisions removing them from office, thereby nullifying their actions.
The conflicting interpretations underscore the uncertainty now facing the PDP, as stakeholders await further clarity on the party’s leadership and direction in the aftermath of the apex court’s ruling.
