PDP Crisis: Turaki-Led Faction Asks Court to Order Police to Unseal Party Secretariat Nationwide

PDP Crisis: Turaki-Led Faction Asks Court to Order Police to Unseal Party Secretariat Nationwide

The Kabiru Turaki (SAN)-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking an order compelling the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force to immediately unseal and vacate the party’s national secretariat and all its offices across the country.

The request is contained in a Motion on Notice filed by the plaintiffs through their lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), asking the court to grant a mandatory injunction directing the police to remove all barricades and withdraw from the PDP national headquarters in Abuja.

The PDP secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, was sealed in November 2025 following clashes between two rival factions of the party — one led by Turaki, recently elected as national chairman, and the other aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The crisis erupted when both factions scheduled meetings at the party headquarters on the same day, prompting police intervention and the deployment of tear gas, after which the premises were barricaded with barbed wire. The action reportedly prevented the Turaki-led National Working Committee from holding its rescheduled inaugural meeting.

Turaki was elected chairman at a PDP national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, 2025. However, the Wike-backed faction rejected the convention, arguing that it violated earlier court orders restraining the party from holding the exercise.

READ ALSO:

• Troops Neutralise 17 Terrorists, Disrupt Insurgent Logistics in Borno
• Relief in Niger State as Remaining St. Mary’s School Abducted Students, Teachers Are Released
• NAFDAC Assures Nigerians: Locally Made Indomie Noodles Safe Amid French Recall Alert

While Federal High Court judges, Justices James Omotosho and Peter Lifu, had restrained the PDP from conducting the convention, a High Court in Ibadan later granted an ex parte order allowing the exercise to proceed.

At the Ibadan convention, the party announced the removal of Nyesom Wike, national secretary Samuel Anyanwu, factional chairman Mohammed Abdulrahman, and eight others over alleged anti-party activities.

In a related suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/252/2025, the PDP, Turaki, and the party’s Board of Trustees Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara, are asking the court to restrain the police from sealing, occupying, or restricting access to any PDP office in the 36 states of the federation, including the Abuja headquarters and its annex, Legacy House, Maitama.

Specifically, the plaintiffs urged the court to order the police to “immediately remove all barricades, unseal, and vacate” the party’s offices pending the determination of the suit.

An affidavit in support of the application was sworn to by PDP National Secretary, Taofik Arapaja, who stated that the party duly notified the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the outcome of the Ibadan convention via a letter dated November 17, 2025.

Arapaja alleged that instead of providing security for an emergency stakeholders’ meeting scheduled for November 18, police officers led by the Commissioner of Police, FCT, fired over 200 tear gas canisters, sealed the secretariat, and barred party officials, staff, and visiting governors from accessing the premises — all without a valid court order.

The plaintiffs argued that the continued sealing of the secretariat has crippled the party’s administrative functions, policy coordination, and election planning, adding that the police must remain neutral under the Nigeria Police Act 2020.

They urged the court to grant the reliefs sought, insisting that the balance of convenience favours the PDP and that monetary compensation would not adequately remedy the damage caused by the police action.

PDP Crisis: Turaki-Led Faction Asks Court to Order Police to Unseal Party Secretariat Nationwide