The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) aligned with FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has taken formal control of the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza in Abuja, backed by a Federal High Court ruling that nullified a rival convention and ordered security agencies to protect their occupation of the premises, a significant turning point in a months-long battle for Nigeria’s main opposition party.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja restrained the Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee from gaining access to the PDP national secretariat. She also directed security agencies, including the Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State Services, to give adequate protection to the Wike-aligned faction led by Abdulrahman Mohammed while accessing the building.
Justice Abdulmalik’s ruling held that the purported national convention held by the Turaki-led faction on November 15 and 16, 2025, in Ibadan, was a nullity. The judge said the convention violated Section 287(3) of the Nigerian Constitution, as well as the PDP’s constitution, having been conducted against valid court orders. She described the expulsion of Wike and his allies from the party during the convention as “an affront to the order of court.”
The court ruling came just a day after the Wike-aligned faction concluded its own national convention in Abuja. Abdulrahman Mohammed and Samuel Anyanwu were elected as substantive National Chairman and National Secretary, respectively, at the party’s 2026 national convention held at the velodrome of the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja on Sunday, March 29, 2026, alongside 19 other members of a new National Working Committee.
Prominent party figures at the convention included former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, former Senate President Bukola Saraki, and former Kaduna State Governor Ahmed Makarfi. Wike, identified as the party’s national leader, declared that healing within the PDP had begun and assured members that the party would participate in the 2027 general elections.
The Wike faction’s takeover of the secretariat follows a series of court decisions that have systematically dismantled the Turaki group’s claim to legitimacy. On March 9, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld a Federal High Court ruling declaring the Ibadan convention invalid for breaching the Electoral Act, the Constitution, and the PDP constitution. Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam held that the PDP violated constitutional provisions guiding its convention.
The court further described all actions arising from the Ibadan convention as unconstitutional and of no legal effect, and barred the Turaki faction from parading itself as the party’s leadership or using the national secretariat.
The Wike-aligned faction also sought and obtained an order restraining INEC from accepting any office address from the Turaki-led leadership other than the address already on record with the commission, a move aimed at ensuring only their faction is formally recognised by Nigeria’s electoral body.
The Turaki camp, backed by Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, has refused to concede. The Makinde-aligned group described the situation as a constitutional matter, stating it had filed processes at the Supreme Court to resolve all issues surrounding the party’s leadership and the disputed convention.
The Turaki faction labelled the Wike-backed convention a “jamboree,” and has escalated the legal battle to the Supreme Court, seeking to challenge both the Convention’s legitimacy and the appellate court’s ruling against the Ibadan proceedings.
The resolution or lack thereof of this internal crisis has profound implications for Nigeria’s political landscape. The crisis began in earnest when the Wike-aligned faction set up a 13-member National Caretaker Working Committee in December 2025, after the Court of Appeal heard consolidated suits on the leadership dispute. Multiple court rulings in 2025 had already barred the Turaki faction from holding its convention, but the group proceeded anyway in Ibadan on November 15 and 16, electing Turaki as national chairman alongside other officers and suspending some Wike allies.
With the Wike faction now physically and legally in control of Wadata Plaza, and the rival bloc pursuing its case at the Supreme Court, Nigeria’s oldest opposition party remains mired in a crisis that analysts warn could significantly weaken its capacity to mount an effective challenge to the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 general elections.