*Taminu Turaki and Taofeek Arapaja took their oath of office as National Chairman, National Secretary respectively of the PDP at the ill-fated convention
The Supreme Court has today dismissed the appeal filed by the Taminu Turaki-led National Working Committee of a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Delivering the majority judgment, Justice Stephen held that the national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, last year, was in defiance of an existing judgment of the Federal High Court, delivered by Justice James Omotosho.
The apex court berated the Turaki-led group for going on to another court of coordinate jurisdiction to secure an order, instead of going on appeal.
It described the move as an abuse of court process.
The majority judgment adds that any litigant who engages in the act of abuse of court process does so at his or her own peril.
The majority judgment dismissed the appeal for lack of merit.
The legal battle stemmed from the conduct of the PDP national convention in Ibadan last year, which produced the Turaki-led national executive.
While Austin Nwachukwu and two other PDP chieftains had dragged the Ambassador Iliya Damagum-led national executive before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, over alleged noncompliance with the party’s guidelines as well as the Electoral Act in the conduct of the PDP convention, former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, on the other hand, dragged the party before Justice Peter Lifu of the same Federal High Court, to challenge his exclusion from the convention.
At last Wednesday’s proceedings, when the appeal between the Turaki-led executive of PDP versus Lamido was called, Paul Erokoro, SAN, who represented the appellant urged the apex court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal, which nullified the Ibadan convention on the grounds that the convention was held in disobedience to the orders of the Federal High Court.
Lamido, through his lawyer, Ewere Aliemeke, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal in its entirety for lack of merit.
The same plea was made by O. A. Adeyemi, who represented INEC and Chief Joseph Daudu, SAN, who represented the third to fifth respondents.
Daudu, urged the apex court to hold that the appeal did not fall within the spheres of internal matters of political parties.
In the other PDP matter against Nwachukwu and two others, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, who argued the appeal for PDP, submitted that the two lower courts granted orders against the party’s convention without jurisdiction.
He accordingly urged the apex court to set aside the two judgements and hold that the lower courts erred in assuming jurisdiction in the internal matters of PDP.
After taking arguments from all parties, Justice Mohammed Garba, who presided over the proceedings, subsequently announced that judgement was reserved to a date that would be communicated to parties.
Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja had last year, in a judgement, restrained the then Ambassador Iliya Damagum-led National Executive Committee from proceeding with the convention slated for November 15 and 16, 2025, in Ibadan Oyo State.
Lifu had in his judgment ordered that the convention should not hold until Lamido, an aspirant to the office of national chairman, was given the opportunity to purchase interest and nomination forms to enable him participate in the convention for the election of national officers.
The party, however, went ahead to conduct the convention in disregard to the orders of the court.
PDP had predicated its action on the grounds that the court of Lifu lacked jurisdiction to stop the convention as the issue brought before him was an internal matter of PDP, which no court had jurisdiction to delve into.
The appellate court, in its judgement last month, disagreed that the issue at the trial court was an internal affair of a political party, which courts could not entertain.
The three-member panel of the appellate court subsequently nullified the outcome of the convention for being held in disobedience to the orders of the Federal High Court, Abuja.
Dissatisfied, PDP approached the apex court praying it to accept the appeal against the lower court judgement, set the judgement aside, and hold that the issue was an internal matter of PDP, which both the Court of Appeal and Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain.
