Court Hits Wabara-Led PDP BoT with N140m Penalty, Throws Out Suit Against INEC

Written from NAN reports

ABUJA — The Federal High Court in Abuja has dealt a major legal setback to the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, dismissing its suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and imposing N140 million in costs for filing what it described as a frivolous case.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Salim Ibrahim ruled that the suit was an abuse of court process, unmeritorious and lacking in merit, while also ordering the plaintiffs’ lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, to personally pay N10 million as a deterrent against the filing of frivolous suits.

The judge held that the award of costs was in line with Section 83(6)(b) of the Electoral Act, 2026, agreeing with the defendants that “cost follows event.”

The Wabara-led BoT had approached the court seeking an order compelling INEC to recognise the Kabir Turaki, SAN-led interim National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, insisting that the names of the officials had already been forwarded to the electoral umpire through letters dated May 4.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, was filed on June 4 by Wabara alongside BoT Secretary and former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, former Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, PDP chieftain Chief Olabode George, former ministers Maryam Ciroma and Zainab Maina, Dame Esther Uduehi, as well as the PDP.

However, the Mohammed Abdulrahman-led PDP leadership, which is loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, challenged the suit, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction and that the PDP never authorised the action.

In a dramatic development during the proceedings, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sunday Ameh, appeared on behalf of the PDP and asked the court to strike out the party’s name as a plaintiff, insisting that Chief Uche had no authority to institute the case in the party’s name.

Justice Ibrahim agreed.

The court struck out the PDP as the eighth plaintiff, holding that Wabara and the other plaintiffs had no legal authority to sue on behalf of the party.

The judge also granted the application of the Abdulrahman-led executives and other party officials to be joined as defendants in the matter.

On the jurisdictional challenge, Justice Ibrahim upheld the preliminary objections filed by INEC and the defendants, ruling that the dispute related to the internal affairs of a political party and therefore fell outside the jurisdiction of the court.

On the substantive issues, the court held that the plaintiffs failed to establish any legal basis for the reliefs they sought.

Justice Ibrahim affirmed the leadership of the Mohammed Abdulrahman-led PDP, noting that previous judgments, including one delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik recognising the leadership and granting it access to the party’s national secretariat, remain valid and have not been set aside.

The court also held that the March convention which produced the current leadership of the Wike-backed faction was conducted pursuant to a subsisting court judgment.

Describing the fresh action as an attempt to relitigate issues that had already been settled by competent courts, Justice Ibrahim dismissed the suit in its entirety.

The judgment marks another significant legal victory for the Abdulrahman-led PDP leadership in the party’s prolonged internal leadership crisis.