Wike’s Camp Drags INEC, Security Agencies to Court over ‘Illegal’ PDP Convention, Sealed Secretariat

 

A fresh crisis has erupted within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has instituted a suit seeking to nullify the national convention held in Ibadan on November 15 and 16.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, the plaintiffs — the PDP, its Acting National Chairman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu — asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to declare the Ibadan convention “null, void, and of no effect” for allegedly violating subsisting court orders.

The faction insisted that three judgments of the Federal High Court had restrained the party from holding the convention, but the opposing camp allegedly went ahead with the exercise in defiance of the law.

The aggrieved group, which includes Wike, Anyanwu, former Ekiti Governor Ayo Fayose, and several other expelled chieftains, also seeks an order barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Inspector-General of Police, the FCT Commissioner of Police, and the Department of State Services (DSS) from recognising the new leadership that emerged in Ibadan — including Umar Damagum, Kabiru Turaki, and others.

‘Convention violated subsisting court orders’

In the originating summons, the plaintiffs relied on earlier rulings delivered under suit numbers FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025, FHC/ABJ/CS/2299/2025, and the May 31, 2023 decision in FHC/ABJ/CS/139/2023 — all of which allegedly invalidated the notice for the convention.

According to them, despite the clear judicial directives, the defendants “organised themselves and their cohorts” to conduct what they described as an unauthorised gathering in Ibadan, where officers were purportedly elected and prominent members were suspended or expelled.

‘Security agencies sealed PDP secretariat’

In an affidavit, Anyanwu alleged that on November 18, the group that organised the convention attempted to forcibly take over the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza and Legacy House in Abuja.

He said that instead of enforcing the court orders, the police and DSS sealed the premises and barred the plaintiffs from accessing their offices.

“The 2nd to 4th defendants have now sealed up the premises of the 1st plaintiff and denied the 2nd and 3rd plaintiffs access to their offices,” the affidavit stated.

What the plaintiffs want

The faction is asking the court to:

declare that INEC and security agencies are bound to enforce the earlier judgments;

restrain them from recognising the Ibadan convention and all actions taken therein;

stop the newly announced officers from parading themselves as PDP leaders;

compel security agencies to provide protection for the plaintiffs and allow them access to Wadata Plaza and Legacy House;

bar INEC from accepting any change of the PDP’s official address.

They also seek a determination on whether any authority can lawfully validate the Ibadan convention despite the subsisting court orders and provisions of the Constitution, Electoral Act, and PDP Constitution.

The suit is yet to be assigned to a judge, and no date has been fixed for hearing.