Confusion persists in PDP, Ibadan court okays national convention, Wike, Fayose fault order

Confusion persists in PDP, Ibadan court okays national convention, Wike, Fayose fault order

The Oyo State High Court has issued an order directing the Peoples Democratic Party to proceed with its national convention scheduled for November 15–16, 2025, in Ibadan, the state capital.

The court also told the Independent National Electoral Commission to attend and monitor the exercise.

But Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, have dismissed the Tuesday’s ruling and insisted that the Abuja Federal High Court judgement stopping the convention was superior and would subsist.

Delivering the ruling in Ibadanon Tuesday, Justice A. L. Akintola issued an interim order permitting the party to continue its convention plans without obstruction.

The decision came after an ex-parte motion filed by Folahan Adelabi against the PDP, its Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum; Governor Umaru Fintiri, who heads the National Convention Organising Committee; and the INEC.

Wike, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant, Lere Olayinka, however dismissed the Oyo order, insisting that the Abuja judgment would take precedence.

He said, “Are you unaware of the last Friday judgment of the Federal High Court? There was a judgment on Friday. Another court now gave an ex parte order! Do you know what an ex parte order means?

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“It means it expires in seven days or at the highest 14 days. Is the High Court in Ibadan the appeal court? Is that an order you should obey? Is an order higher than a judgment?

“A court gave a judgment that INEC should not attend, you now went to Ibadan to get an order, an ex parte order. And you are asking whether the minister will attend?”

Fayose described it as an inconsequential order, that no law understanding institution can obey, saying, “It is an Ibadan judicial and political awada kerikeri of a hand-to-mouth-judge.”

He said even the most unintelligent human being in Nigeria will know that a State High Court cannot act as an Appellate Court over the Federal High Court.

In a statement he signed, Fayose said “the judge only granted an ineffective order that is dead on arrival order. It is an order no one, including the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can obey.”

He called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to as a matter of urgency sanction Justice A.L. Akintola, who gave the exparte order, despite being aware of the October 31, 2025 judgement of Justice James Omotosho on the same matter.

The former governor alleged “hand-to mouth judges” are bad eggs that must be flushed out of the judiciary.

He described the order as another show of desperation by those who have become the undertakers, waiting at the graveside to give the PDP a final burial.

“How do you go to a State High Court to get an exparte order asking INEC to monitor a national convention on which a Federal High Court ruled five days ago that it should not monitor?”