PDP Faults Court’s Decision To Halt Its Leadership Dispute Suit

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described politically-motivated, rather than based on legal precedent, the decision of a Federal High Court in Abuja to halt proceedings in a suit challenging the Kabiru Turaki-led national executive of the party.
The court, presided over by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, on Friday, January 23, halted hearing on the suit, pending the determination of an appeal filed by a faction of the party loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, led by its Mohammed Abdulrahman and Samuel Anyanwu, seeks to restrain the Turaki-led executive from parading itself as the leadership of the PDP.
In the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, the plaintiffs are also asking the court to stop the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Department of State Services (DSS) from allowing the Turaki faction access to the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, as well as an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising or accepting any office address submitted by the faction other than the one already in INEC’s records.
At the resumed hearing on Friday, PDP’s Counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), applied to withdraw the party’s earlier application for a stay of proceedings, which was not opposed by the plaintiffs’ Counsel, Onyeachi Ikpeazu (SAN); hence the court struck out the application and adjourned the substantive matter until February 20 for mention.
The suit seeks to nullify the outcome of the national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, last year.
However, the Turaki-led PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, argued that the Judge ought to have struck out the case after the its Counsel informed the court of its decision to discontinue the suit, in line with applicable rules.
Ememobong said the court’s action had further heightened PDP’s fears about judicial impartiality in matters involving the party, saying it has lost confidence in the presiding Judge.
He recalled that the party had earlier written to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, expressing concerns over “obvious partiality” of three Judges of the Abuja Division in matters involving the PDP.
According to him: “This case was assigned by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to Justice Joyce Abdulmalik. Before this suit, we had earlier written to the Chief Judge, complaining about the obvious partiality of three out of the 12 Judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
“In the said letter, we had exhaustively expressed our doubt and complete lack of faith in their capacity to fairly dispense justice in matters where PDP is involved.
“Despite this information, the Chief Judge still assigned our case to her. When we appeared in the matter, we filed a motion for recusal asking that Justice Abdulmalik recuses herself from the matter and return the file to the CJ for reassignment.
“Rather than do the needful, which is to take the motion, and rule on it, the Judge ruled that she will manage the case in a way convenient for her, which is to take all the motions (including the motion for recusal), alongside the hearing of the case, and at the point of judgment, give her ruling on the motion for recusal before the judgment.
“This in our view, defeats fair hearing, as we have indicated our complete loss of trust in her ability to be fair in the matter, or any other matter concerning the PDP.”
Ememobong explained that the party, therefore, filed a notice of discontinuance, under Order 50 Rule 2(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, which allows a plaintiff to withdraw a suit without leave of court within 14 days of receiving the last statement of defence.
He said the court’s decision to dismiss the suit, instead of striking it out, further deepened the party’s concerns, noting: “Today, after our Counsel informed the court of our intention to discontinue, citing the relevant rules.
“The Judge listened to arguements by all the counsel in the matter and ruled, dismissing, instead of striking out our case. This, again, exacerbates our party’s subsisting fear about the impartiality of the court.”
Ememobong said the party still has respect for the judiciary, but urged Judges to remain detached from political interests, adding: “We will continue to have respect for our Judges and the judiciary generally, which is why we want to sincerely remind them of the immortal advice of Justice Niki Tobi (JSC) on the ‘need for Nigerian Judges to maintain a very big distance from politics and politicians.’