The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, has filed a lawsuit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking the court to compel recognition of the party’s interim National Working Committee (iNWC).
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, was filed on June 4 at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Among the plaintiffs are Wabara, former governors Muazu Babangida Aliyu, elder statesman Jerry Gana, Bode George, Maryam Ciroma, Zainab Maina, and Esther Uduehi. INEC is the sole defendant.
The plaintiffs are requesting an order directing INEC to update its official records and publish the names of the interim NWC members submitted by the PDP BoT and National Executive Committee (NEC). They also want the commission to formally recognise and engage the interim leadership structure.
The legal action follows the recent Court of Appeal judgment, which set aside parts of a Federal High Court ruling in Ibadan that had previously recognised a factional caretaker committee within the PDP. The appellate court held that the lower court granted reliefs not originally sought by the parties.
In an affidavit supporting the case, Babangida Aliyu stated that some party officials, including former National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, were suspended in November 2025 over alleged misconduct, anti-party activities, and insubordination.
He added that subsequent court rulings validated the suspensions and nullified the PDP national convention held in November 2025, creating leadership vacancies within the party.
According to him, this situation prompted the BoT to establish an interim NWC pending a properly conducted national convention. He further explained that details of the interim leadership were forwarded to INEC in May 2026, but the commission has allegedly failed to act on or acknowledge the submission.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that INEC is legally bound to respect valid court judgments concerning the PDP leadership dispute and to compel the commission to recognise the interim structure.
As of the time of filing, the case had not yet been assigned to a judge.
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