PDP Crisis: Appeal Court Rejects Recognition of Interim NWC

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Interim National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A statement by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Jungudo Haruna Mohammed, said the three-member special panel, presided over by Justice Ugochukwu Anthony Ogakwu, alongside Justices Laja Balogun and Ruquayat Oremei Ayoola, dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Adolphus Wabara and seven others against INEC and six other respondents.

The appellants, including the Chairman and members of the PDP Board of Trustees and some founding members, had approached the appellate court seeking to set aside a Federal High Court judgment delivered by Justice Salim, which refused to compel INEC to recognise the Interim National Working Committee led by Kabiru Turaki.

The interim committee was constituted following a National Executive Committee meeting held after a Supreme Court judgment on the party’s leadership dispute.

However, the Court of Appeal upheld the Federal High Court’s decision in its entirety, dismissing the appeal and declining to grant the reliefs sought by the appellants.

Reacting to the judgment, the National Publicity Secretary of the Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, said the group respected the court’s decision but would challenge the ruling at the Supreme Court.

The development marks another stage in the ongoing leadership dispute within the PDP.