Tension in PDP as Court Orders Wike’s Faction Put on Notice Ahead of National Convention
There is palpable fear and tension within the faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) backed by the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, as the Federal High Court Abuja on Friday ordered that the organisers be put on notice on the pendency of a suit challenging the legality of the factions National Caretaker Working Committee.
This is just as a the Ebonyi State Hight Court had on Thursday, March 26, 2026 ordered that the Wike-backed PDP faction be put on notice on the pendency of a similar case also challenging the validity of the planned convention.
These suits have placed the Wike’s faction in a tight corner over the planned convention scheduled for Sunday March 29, 2026 as parties, having been served, are expected to maintain status-quo pending the hearing of the motion on notice which has been slated for Wednesday, 1st of April, 2026.
In a suit filed at the Federal High Court Abuja with Suit No FCT/ABJ/CS/589/2026, the plaintiffs messers Tony Aziegbemi, Edward Masha and Chidi Chidebe, Edo, Kaduna and Anambra States Chairmen of the PDP respectively, asked the court to issue an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the 3rd to 6th defendants namely Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Bature Umar, Barr. Kamaldeen Ajibade and Barr. Okechukwu Osuoha from parading themselves as leaders of the party and from holding any national convention in Abuja on the 29th to 30th March 2026 having been suspended and subsequently expelled from the party, which suspension has also been upheld by the Court of Appeal in its judgment delivered on Monday, March 9th, 2026.
The plaintiffs are also asking the court to restrain the 7th to 9th defendants, namely; Abdulrahman Mohammed, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and Senator Mustapha Khabeeb from conducting any national convention pending the hearing of the motion on notice.
The plaintiffs also asked the Court to order an interlocutory injunction restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st Defendant from receiving any initiation attending or participating to monitor the proposed national convention on the 29th to 30th March 2026 or respecting the outcome of the convention, being illegal and invalid.
The plaintiffs asserted that Anyanwu, Ajibade and Bature having been suspended on the 1st of November, 2025 lacked the competence, validity and legality to appoint Abdulrahman Mohammed as an acting Chairman of the PDP and functioning as members of the National Caretaker Working Committee, thereby rendering all actions of the National Caretaker Working Committee including organizing the planned convention, illegal, null and void.
They held that “under the PDP constitution only a duly constituted and elected National Working Committee of the party has the authority to convene a National Convention” a power that Abdulrahman Mohammed and the purported National Caretaker Working Committee lacked.
They also averred that although the National Convention of the PDP held in Ibadan on the 15th and 16th of November, 2025 had been subject of litigations that has passed through the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal it is now pending in the Supreme Court.
The plaintiffs also held that the High Court of Oyo State in Ibadan in its judgment delivered on 27th February, 2026 which has not been set aside affirmed the National Convention of the party held in Ibadan, Oyo State capital on the 15th and 16th November, 2025.
In the suit pending before the Ebonyi State High Court with Suit No HOZ/14/2026, the plaintiffs, Hon. Ogbuefi Zacchaeus Ifeuwa and Hon. Okoro Monday Ogbonnaya asked the Court to declare the purported appointment of Alhaji Abdulrahman Mohammed as Acting Chairman of the PDP and the subsequent constitution of the National Caretaker Working Committee by Abdulrahman Mohammed, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Bature Umar and Kamaldeen Ajibade as invalid, ultra vires, null and void and of no effect having regard to the suspension of the trio from the party as upheld by the Court of Appeal.
The plaintiffs asserted that having regard to the expulsion of Senator Anyanwu from the PDP as validated in the judgment delivered on the 12th of January 2026 in suit No CV/1050/2025, Senator Anyanwu cannot lawfully continue to act or be recognized as a member or National Secretary of the PDP.
They also asked the Court to retrain the National Caretaker Working Committee from convening a national convention in Abuja on the 29th and 30th of March, 2026 as well as retrain INEC from participating or giving effect to the outcome of the convention pending the hearing of the motion on notice which has already been served on parties.
