Court affirms Federal High Court’s jurisdiction, rules that alleged constitutional breaches cannot be treated as mere internal party matters.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Federal High Court restraining the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from holding its proposed national convention in Ibadan, dismissing an appeal filed by a faction of the party led by former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki (SAN).

In a unanimous ruling delivered by a three-member panel, the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit challenging the party’s planned convention.

The Turaki-led faction had approached the Court of Appeal to challenge the authority of the Federal High Court to hear the matter, arguing that the dispute was strictly an internal affair of the party and therefore outside the court’s jurisdiction.

However, the appellate court rejected the argument, holding that the issues raised in the suit involved alleged violations of both the PDP constitution and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The court stressed that such allegations could not be disguised as an internal party matter in order to avoid judicial scrutiny.

According to the panel, the appellants could not “repackage a clear violation of the party constitution and that of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as an internal party affair.”

The judgment arose from nine harmonised appeals filed by the Turaki faction challenging an earlier court order that barred the PDP from conducting its planned November 14 and 15, 2025, national convention in Ibadan.

The lower court had also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or validating the proposed convention.

With the dismissal of the appeals, the appellate court affirmed the validity of the earlier ruling and ordered the appellants to pay N2 million in costs.