The Supreme Court will Thursday deliver judgments which will decide the fate of both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The apex court, in notices it sent out on Wednesday, indicated that it would deliver judgments in four separate appeals bordering on the leadership crises that is rocking the two opposition parties.
While the appeals involving the PDP are seeking validation of the outcome of the national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, 2025, that of the ADC is challenging the interference of courts in alleged domestic affairs of the party.
It will be recalled that a five-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, had on April 22, reserved judgment on the cases after all the parties involved adopted their respective briefs of argument.
In one of the appeals marked SC/CV/164/2026, which was by the Tanimu Turaki, SAN-led factional national executives of the PDP, the appellants sought the setting aside of judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court in Abuja, which faulted the conduct of the Ibadan convention.
The appellate court had berated the Turaki-led PDP for defying the November 14, 2025, judgment of Justice Peter Lifu of the high court, which stopped the Ibadan convention.
The high court had specifically barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising, monitoring, or recognizing any convention held without including former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido as a contestant.
The restraining order followed a suit filed by Lamido, a foundation member of the PDP, alleging he had been arbitrarily denied the chance to contest for National Chairman.
He cited the PDP and INEC as the first and second defendants, respectively.
The trial court found that Lamido had been unjustly denied a nomination form, contrary to the PDP Constitution and guidelines.
It declared that the party must create opportunities for members to aspire to positions.
As a consequential order, Justice Lifu halted the convention to allow Lamido to obtain the form, mobilize supporters, and campaign.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the Turaki-led PDP filed an appeal to set it aside.
The appeal was dismissed by the appellate court which held that the appellants resorted to self-help and contemptuous conduct by proceeding with the convention despite the restraining order.
It ruled that the party should have sought suspension of the judgment from a higher court, rather than obtaining a favorable order from another court of coordinate jurisdiction.
The appellate court described the PDP’s action as a direct affront to judicial authority and a gross abuse of court process.
Meanwhile, the second appeal which was also filed by the Turaki-led group, is seeking to void the court order that barred INEC from monitoring the contentious Ibadan convention.
The appellants in the matter—PDP, its National Working Committee (NWC), and National Executive Committee (NEC)—had, in a motion filed on April 8 through their team of lawyers led by Chief Chris Uche, SAN, prayed for a departure from the Supreme Court Rules and the abridgement of time for all respondents to file their briefs of argument.
In the case of the ADC, the apex court will deliver judgment in an appeal marked SC/CV/180/2026, which was filed by Senator David Mark.
The appellant who leads a faction backed by frontline opposition figures, seeks to set aside a March 12 Court of Appeal judgment, which he said was against the interest of justice.
He argued that the appellate court exceeded its jurisdiction by ordering maintenance of the status quo ante bellum in a suit filed by aggrieved party members led by Nafiu-Bala Gombe.
Mark contended that the dispute involves a political party’s domestic affairs, in which courts lack jurisdiction to intervene.
Besides Gombe, other respondents in the appeal include the ADC, the National Secretary Rauf Aregbesola, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the immediate past national chairman of the party, Chief Ralph Nwosu.
Mark sought, among other reliefs, an order restraining INEC from recognizing anyone other than him and the current national officers, pending determination of the appeal.
He also requested orders barring INEC from altering the party’s leadership structure as currently constituted and staying proceedings in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025 before Justice Emeka Nwite at the Federal High Court, Abuja, until the appeal is heard.
