PDP BoT Members Drag INEC to Court Over Recognition of Interim National Leadership
Prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees have taken the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court, seeking an order compelling the electoral body to recognise and publish the names of the party’s interim National Working Committee (NWC) members.
The suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, was instituted by several PDP leaders, including Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, former Niger State Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, former Information Minister Professor Jerry Gana, party chieftain Chief Olabode George, former ministers Maryam Ciroma and Zainab Maina, as well as BoT member Esther Uduehi.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to direct INEC to update its records and publish on its official website the names of the interim NWC members forwarded to the commission by the PDP’s Board of Trustees and National Executive Committee (NEC).
The legal action follows a recent Court of Appeal judgment that overturned key portions of an earlier Federal High Court ruling in Ibadan which had recognised a factional caretaker committee within the PDP.
In its June 3 judgment, the appellate court held that the lower court granted reliefs that were never requested by the parties involved in the leadership dispute, thereby exceeding its jurisdiction.
The PDP leaders are seeking declarations that INEC is constitutionally required to comply with and enforce existing judgments delivered by various courts, including the Federal Capital Territory High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court, regarding the party’s leadership crisis.
They also want the court to compel INEC to accept and recognise all official communications and activities carried out by the interim NWC established by the PDP’s BoT and NEC.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, Aliyu explained that several senior party officials, including former National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, were suspended by the party’s National Working Committee in November 2025 over allegations of misconduct, anti-party activities and insubordination.
He stated that the suspensions were subsequently upheld through court proceedings and that other judicial decisions also nullified the PDP’s national convention held in November 2025.
According to him, those judgments created vacancies in the party’s leadership structure, prompting the Board of Trustees to establish an interim National Working Committee to oversee party affairs pending the conduct of a fresh national convention.
Aliyu further disclosed that details of the interim leadership and portfolio assignments were officially communicated to INEC through letters sent in May 2026. However, he alleged that the commission had failed to update its records or recognise the committee despite receiving the correspondence.
The plaintiffs argued that INEC has a constitutional duty to respect valid court judgments and urged the court to compel the commission to recognise the interim leadership arrangement.
As of the time of filing the suit, the case had not yet been assigned to a judge.
