A Federal High Court in Abuja has fined members of the Adolphus Wabara-led Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ₦140 million after dismissing their leadership suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court also ordered the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Chris Uche, to personally pay ₦10 million to discourage the filing of frivolous cases involving the internal affairs of political parties.
Court dismisses suit
Justice Salim Ibrahim delivered the judgment on Friday. He described the suit as an abuse of court process, unmeritorious and lacking merit.
The judge ruled that the award of ₦140 million complied with Section 83(6)(b) of the Electoral Act, 2026. He agreed with the defendants that costs should follow the outcome of the case.
Plaintiffs sought INEC recognition
The Wabara-led BoT had asked the court to compel INEC to recognise the interim National Working Committee (NWC) headed by Kabiru Turaki.
According to the plaintiffs, they forwarded the names of the committee members to the electoral commission through letters dated May 4.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, was filed on June 4 by a legal team led by Chris Uche.
Among the plaintiffs were former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, former Information Minister Jerry Gana, Olabode George, Maryam Ciroma, Zainab Maina, Esther Uduehi and the PDP.
Court strikes out PDP’s name
During the proceedings, another lawyer, Sunday Ameh, appeared for the PDP and challenged the party’s inclusion as a plaintiff.
He argued that the party never authorised Chris Uche to institute the suit on its behalf.
Justice Ibrahim agreed with that argument and struck out the PDP’s name from the case. He ruled that the remaining plaintiffs lacked the authority to sue on behalf of the party.
Wike-backed faction succeeds
The court also granted the request of the Wike-backed PDP executives to join the case as defendants.
Justice Ibrahim held that the court lacked jurisdiction because the dispute concerned the internal affairs of a political party.
He also ruled that previous judgments had already recognised the Mohammed Abdulrahman-led leadership of the PDP. Those decisions, including an earlier judgment by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, remain valid because no court has set them aside.
The judge concluded that the plaintiffs failed to prove their claims. He added that the suit merely attempted to reopen issues that the courts had already settled.
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