Like a festering sore which has refused to heal, the internal crisis in the People’s Democratic Party appears to have deepened again with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) saying it will not recognise the Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee (NWC).

The commission said it had received several requests from legal representatives of the PDP asking it to recognise and update its website with the list of national officers said to have been elected during the party’s National Convention held on November 15 and 16, 2025, in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The commission in a letter dated December 22, 2025, and signed by its Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, citing subsisting court judgments and unresolved legal processes.

According to the commission, the requests were reviewed “in the light of all material facts, extant laws, and subsisting court judgments touching directly on the subject matter.”

INEC which drew attention to two judgments of the Federal High Court in Abuja delivered on October 31 and November 14 2025 respectively said both judgments expressly restrained it from supervising, monitoring, recognising or giving effect to the outcome of the PDP National Convention held on November 15–16, 2025, or any similar exercise, pending full compliance with court orders.

The decision came a few days after the intervention of INEC during its meeting with the two feuding camps led by Kabiru Turaki and Samuel Anyanwu.

INEC in the letter addressed to Akintayo Balogun and Co., legal representatives of the PDP, the electoral umpire said it was legally bound to obey final judgments of courts of competent jurisdiction which expressly barred it from recognising or giving effect to the outcome of the said convention.

INEC said the request followed a series of letters written by different legal representatives of the PDP, including Taiwo Abe and Co. on November 14, 2025, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN) and Co. on November 19, 2025, and Akintayo Balogun and Co on November 21, 2025, all demanding that the commission recognise and update on its website the list of national officers allegedly elected at the convention.

The Turaki-led PDP NWC has the support of Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, and Bala Mohammed, his Bauchi counterpart.

But in November, the opposition party, with the backing of Mohammed and Makinde, convened a national convention in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, which produced a new set of national officers.

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.

The political camp of party members led by Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who opposed the convention, would later form a parallel NWC, Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC).

The Makinde-backed PDP, through its counsel, asked INEC to recognise Turaki as the party’s authentic national chairman.

The Commission, however, said it carefully reviewed the demands against existing facts, relevant laws and, most importantly, subsisting court judgments directly connected to the matter.

According to INEC, two final judgments of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, are central to its decision.

These include Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2120/2025 — Austine Nwachukwu & two others v. INEC & eight others, delivered on October 31, 2025, and Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/2299/2025 — Alhaji Sule Lamido v. PDP & four others, delivered on November 14, 2025.

The commission stated that both judgments, which are final and binding on all parties, expressly restrained INEC from supervising, monitoring, recognising or giving effect “in any manner whatsoever” to the outcome of the PDP National Convention held on November 15 and 16, 2025, or any other date, pending full compliance with the orders of the court.

INEC further noted that although notices of appeal had been filed against the judgments, settled law provides that the filing of an appeal does not amount to a stay of execution.

“Until the said judgments are set aside or stayed by a competent court, the commission remains bound to obey and give full effect to them in line with Section 287(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” the letter stated.

The commission also addressed an interim order issued by the High Court of Oyo State in Suit No. 1/1336/2025 — Folahan Malomo Adelabi v. PDP & others, noting that INEC had since been struck out of that suit for want of jurisdiction.

It added that, in any case, an interim order could not override or nullify subsisting final judgments of a court of coordinate or superior jurisdiction.

INEC further disclosed that the PDP itself had instituted another suit, Suit No. FHC/IB/CS/121/2025 — PDP v. INEC, in which it sought an order mandating the commission to recognise the National Working Committee and members of the National Executive Committee elected at the Ibadan convention as the party’s lawful leadership for all electoral purposes.

According to the commission, the existence of the pending suit and appeals renders the request for recognition prejudicial.

“In the light of the above pending suits, your request is prejudicial and cannot be acceded to until the determination of the pending appeals,” INEC added.

The commission stressed that, in obedience to the rule of law and subsisting court orders, it was unable to recognise or update the list of national officers said to have emerged from the PDP National Convention of November 15 and 16, 2025.

INEC added that the same position had been clearly communicated to PDP representatives during a meeting held with the party on Friday, December 19, 2025. (AriseNews TV)

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