The Oyo State High Court in Ibadan has adjourned its ruling on a preliminary objection questioning its jurisdiction over a suit challenging the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) national convention, effectively allowing preparations for the event to continue.
The convention is scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2025.
The suit was filed by PDP member Folahan Adelabi, who claimed that the party’s planned convention violated internal procedures.
Counsel for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), O. Adeyemi, argued that INEC, as a Federal Government agency, falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court and urged the case be struck out.
However, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, representing Adelabi, countered that the claim concerned the claimant’s constitutional rights.
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He told the court, “The 1999 Constitution guarantees the right to lawful assembly and convention,” emphasising that Section 251 does not prevent the Oyo State High Court from hearing the matter.
After hearing both sides, presiding judge Justice Ladiran Akintola adjourned the ruling to December 8, 2025, while maintaining an interim order restraining the defendants from interfering with convention preparations.
The defendants in the case are the PDP, its acting National Chairman Umar Damagun, Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, chair of the PDP Convention Organising Committee, and INEC.
The adjournment allows the party to proceed with the convention while the legal dispute continues, contrasting with a Federal High Court ruling in Abuja by Justice Peter Lifu, who had temporarily halted the convention in a separate suit filed by former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido.
The convention, aimed at electing national officers, proceeds amid ongoing internal party tensions, including leadership struggles and the suspension and counter-suspension of some PDP chieftains.