The Supreme Court has fixed April 22, 2026, for the hearing of two separate appeals filed by the Kabiru Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal’s judgment that nullified the party’s Ibadan National Convention held on November 15 and 16, 2025.
A five-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Lawal Garba, granted the application for accelerated hearing and approved a departure from the normal rules to shorten the timeline for filing briefs of argument, citing urgency in the matter.
In the first appeal, filed by the Turaki-led faction against the PDP group aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, the court ordered that hearing notices be served on Mohammed Abdulrahman, the seventh respondent, who was absent during Tuesday’s proceedings.
Counsel to the appellants, Chris Uche (SAN), told the court that the matter required urgent attention to align with the timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He also supported his application with an affidavit of extreme urgency.
On their part, counsel to Austin Nwachukwu and two others, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), requested 15 days to respond, stating that they needed time to obtain relevant records from the Court of Appeal judgment that invalidated the Ibadan convention.
However, the Supreme Court directed all nine respondents to file their replies within five days each and subsequently fixed April 22, 2026, for hearing of the appeal.
In a second related appeal involving the Turaki faction and former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido and others, the apex court also granted accelerated hearing and abridgement of time, fixing the same date for proceedings.
Lamido had instituted the suit after alleging exclusion from the party’s national chairmanship contest, a dispute that led to earlier orders from Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court halting the convention.
Lower courts, including the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, had ruled against the Turaki faction, nullifying the Ibadan convention, restraining INEC from recognising its outcomes, and in some instances restricting access to the party’s national secretariat.
The Turaki-led faction has now approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the dispute concerns internal party affairs which are not justiciable, and insisting that due process was followed in conducting the convention.
