Legal Battle Over PDP National Secretariat
The Kabiru Turaki (SAN)-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken legal action against the Nigeria Police Force, seeking an order to unseal and vacate the party’s national secretariat and other offices across the country. This move comes after a series of clashes between rival factions of the party, leading to the sealing of the headquarters in November.
The request was made through a Motion on Notice filed by the plaintiffs, represented by Chief Chris Uche (SAN). The motion seeks a mandatory injunction compelling the police to remove all barricades and vacate the PDP national headquarters. The national secretariat was sealed following confrontations between the Turaki-led faction and the one aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The conflict arose when both factions planned to hold meetings at the party headquarters on the same day. Police intervention led to the use of tear gas, after which the premises were locked and barricaded. This action prevented the Turaki-led National Working Committee from holding its postponed inaugural meeting.
Turaki was elected as the party’s national chairman at a national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November. However, the Wike-aligned faction rejected the convention, claiming it violated court orders that restrained the PDP from holding such an event.
Earlier, Justices James Omotosho and Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had issued a restraining order against the party’s national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2025. In contrast, a High Court in Ibadan allowed the party to proceed with the convention through an ex parte order.
At the Ibadan convention, the party announced the expulsion of several key figures, including Wike, its embattled national secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, the Wike-aligned factional chairman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, and eight others, over allegations of anti-party activities.
In the ongoing suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/252/2025, instituted by the PDP alongside its newly elected national chairman, Turaki, and the chairman of its Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara, the plaintiffs are seeking an order to restrain the police from invading, sealing, occupying, or restricting access to any of the party’s offices in the 36 states of the federation, including the Abuja secretariat and its annex.
The defendants in the suit are the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force. Specifically, the plaintiffs prayed the court for “an order of mandatory injunction directing the defendants to immediately remove all barricades, unseal and vacate forthwith from the 1st plaintiff’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Plot 1970 Michael Okpara Way, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, including its annex, ‘Legacy House’, at Plot 2774 Shehu Shagari Way, Maitama, Abuja, pending the determination of this suit.”
They also sought “an order restraining the defendants, whether by themselves, their officers, agents, servants or howsoever, from invading, breaking into, sealing, occupying or in any manner whatsoever restricting the plaintiffs’ access to, use or occupation of any of the 1st plaintiff’s offices in the 36 states of the federation, including its national secretariat and annex, pending the determination of this suit.”
In grounds supporting the application, the plaintiffs contended that the police, without lawful authority, invaded, sealed, barricaded with metal wires, and occupied the party’s national secretariat and its annex from November 18, 2025, and have remained there since. They maintained that the 2nd and 3rd plaintiffs are principal officers of the party responsible for its administration and management.
An affidavit in support of the motion was deposed to by the PDP national secretary, Taofik Arapaja, who stated that the party held its elective national convention in Ibadan on November 15 and 16, 2025, where new national officers were elected, including Turaki as national chairman. He added that the Independent National Electoral Commission was formally notified of the outcome by a letter dated November 17, 2025.
Arapaja said the party merely wrote to security agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services, to notify them of an emergency stakeholders’ meeting scheduled for November 18, 2025, and to request adequate security coverage. He alleged, however, that instead of providing security, a contingent of police officers led by the Commissioner of Police, FCT, arrived at the secretariat on the scheduled date, fired over 200 tear gas canisters, and sealed the premises, preventing party officials, staff, and visiting governors — including the governors of Bauchi and Oyo states — from gaining access.
According to him, the police action was carried out without any valid court order and amounted to an arbitrary and unlawful occupation of the party’s offices. The plaintiffs argued that the continued sealing of the secretariat has disrupted the party’s daily operations, including administrative coordination, policy formulation, membership management, and election preparations.
They further contended that the police, as a statutory body under the Nigeria Police Act 2020, ought not to act in a partisan manner. The PDP urged the court to intervene, arguing that the balance of convenience favors granting the application and that monetary damages would not adequately compensate the party if the reliefs sought are refused.
The plaintiffs also maintained that granting the application would serve the interest of justice and prevent the police action from being perceived as sanctioned by the court.
