Court fines Wabara-led PDP BoT N140 million over ‘frivolous’ suit against INEC
The Federal High Court in Abuja has awarded N140 million in costs against the Sen. Adolphus Wabara-led Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for filing what it described as a frivolous suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other parties.
In a judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Salim Ibrahim dismissed the leadership dispute case, describing it as an abuse of court process, unmeritorious and lacking in merit.
The judge ruled that the fine was appropriate under Section 83(6)(b) of the Electoral Act, 2026, agreeing with the defendants’ argument that “cost follows the event”.
Justice Ibrahim also ordered the plaintiffs’ counsel, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, to pay an additional N10 million to discourage the filing of what the court considered frivolous suits involving the internal affairs of political parties.
The case, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, was filed on 4 June by members of the Wabara-led PDP BoT. The plaintiffs had asked the court to compel INEC to recognise the interim National Working Committee (NWC) faction led by National Chairman Kabir Turaki, SAN, on its official platforms.
They claimed that the names of members of the Turaki-led NWC had been forwarded to INEC through letters dated 4 May.
The plaintiffs in the suit included former Senate President Adolphus Wabara; former Niger State Governor and PDP BoT Secretary Babangida Aliyu; former Minister of Information Prof. Jerry Gana; PDP chieftain Olabode George; former Minister of Women Affairs Maryam Ciroma; former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development Zainab Maina; BoT and NEC member Dame Esther Uduehi; and the PDP.
However, the PDP faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, challenged the case and questioned the court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.
The Wike-backed executives, led by National Chairman Alhaji Mohammed Abdulrahman, National Secretary Sen. Samuel Anyanwu and National Legal Adviser Kamardeen Ajibade, sought to join the case as defendants.
Other parties seeking to be joined included Imo State PDP chairman Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah and George Turner.
Delivering judgment, Justice Ibrahim held that the Wabara-led BoT lacked the legal authority to institute the suit on behalf of the PDP.
The judge struck out the PDP’s name as the eighth plaintiff, agreeing that the first to seventh plaintiffs had no mandate to include the party as a claimant in the case.
He also granted the applications for joinder, adding Abdulrahman, Anyanwu, Ajibade, Nwachukwu, Amah and Turner as second to seventh defendants.
On the preliminary objections, the court agreed with INEC and the other defendants that it lacked jurisdiction to determine matters relating to the internal affairs of a political party.
Justice Ibrahim upheld the objections and dismissed the suit, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to establish any legal entitlement to the reliefs they sought.
The court also affirmed the leadership of the Abdulrahman-led PDP faction, which is aligned with Wike, noting that previous judgments recognising the faction’s leadership had not been overturned.
The judge referenced an earlier ruling by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a sister court, which affirmed the Abdulrahman-led leadership and granted it access to the party’s national secretariat.
Justice Ibrahim further held that the March convention which produced the current PDP leadership was conducted in line with a valid court judgment that remained in force.
He concluded that the latest suit amounted to an attempt to reopen issues that had already been decided by the courts.
