The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has appointed Kabiru Turaki as chairman of a 13-member interim National Working Committee (NWC), following internal leadership disputes and a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The decision was announced on Monday at the party’s 103rd National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja, with support from Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.
Other members of the interim committee include Woyengikuro Daniel, Hamza Koshe, Ihediwa Nnabugwu, Isa Abubakar, Okechukwu Daniel, Theophilus Shan, Ini Ememobong, Aribisala Idowu, Bara’u Shafi’i, Ogbu Chinenyenwa, Umar Aji, and Arapaja Taofeek, who will serve as secretary. The motion for the committee’s composition was moved by Aziegbemi Anthony.
The development follows a leadership vacuum triggered by the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the PDP’s national convention held on November 15 and 16, 2025 — a gathering that had produced Turaki as national chairman.
Earlier, the party’s Board of Trustees, led by Adolphus Wabara, had announced an interim takeover of party leadership pending resolution of the crisis.
In a split judgment delivered on April 30, the apex court dismissed an appeal filed by the Turaki-led faction seeking to validate the convention.
Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgment, held that the appellants acted in violation of a subsisting order of the Federal High Court, which had restrained the party from conducting the convention.
The case, marked SC/CV/164/2026, originated from a suit filed by Sule Lamido, who challenged the process after allegedly being denied the opportunity to obtain a nomination form to contest for the party’s national chairmanship.
The Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Peter Lifu, had initially issued an interim order on November 11, 2025, restraining the PDP from proceeding with the convention, before making it a final order on November 14.
That decision was later upheld by the Court of Appeal on March 9, 2026.
In affirming the lower courts’ rulings, the Supreme Court said the PDP faction acted in “flagrant disregard” of a valid court order and criticised the move to seek relief from another court of coordinate jurisdiction, describing it as an abuse of court process.
