The Supreme Court on Thursday sacked Taminu Turaki as national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and voided the national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State between November 15 and 16, 2025, hosted by Governor Seyi Makinde’s faction.
Three out of the five-man panel of Supreme Court judges dismissed an appeal filed by Mr Turaki-led National Working Committee, and upheld an earlier verdict of the Court of Appeal in favour of Sule Lamido, while two other judges on the panel said Mr Turaki’s appeal was meritorious.
The matter began at the Federal High Court when Mr Lamido filed a suit seeking an order of the court to mandate the PDP to allow him purchase ticket to contest the national chairmanship election or stop the Ibadan convention.
Though the Federal High Court granted Mr Lamido’s request and issued an order stopping the convention, Mr Makinde’s faction of the PDP disregarded the court order.
Mr Makinde’s faction further approached the High Court in Ibadan, where it got a separate order allowing his faction to hold the convention which produced Mr Turaki as national chairman.
Following the development, Mr Lamido approached the Appeal Court, seeking an order to declare the convention that produced Mr Turaki as national chairman of the PDP illegal, and stop him and others from further parading themselves as national executives of the party.
The Court of Appeal granted Mr Lamido’s request, while declaring the PDP Ibadan convention as illegal.
Following the development, Mr Turaki’s faction approached the Supreme Court, and sought an order to nullify the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Delivering judgment on Thursday, the Supreme Court held that Mr Turaki-led faction’s appeal lacked merit, while affirming earlier verdicts of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal against the conduct of the Ibadan convention.
Justice Stephen Adah, who delivered the lead judgment in appeal number SC/CV/164/2026, held that the appellants (Mr Turaki and others) violated a subsisting order of the Federal High Court restraining them from proceeding with the planned convention.
The apex court consequently dismissed both the appeal and cross-appeals and ordered parties to bear their respective costs.
The apex court held that the Ibadan convention held was in defiance of an existing judgment of the Federal High Court, delivered by Justice James Omotosho.
The Supreme Court berated Messrs Turaki, Makinde, and other members of their faction for approching another court of coordinate jurisdiction to secure a contrary order, instead of filing an appeal at the Appeal Court. The apex court described the move as an abuse of court process.
Three of the five judges on the Supreme Court panel dismissed Mr Turaki-led faction’s appeal for lack of merit, and held that litigants who engage in the act of abuse of court processes do so to their own detriment.
With the development, the PDP faction led by the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, again triumphed after an earlier judgment by a Federal High Court, Ibadan Division, in January, nullified the convention and ordered Mr Turaki and his executives to stop parading themselves as leaders of the party.
