No Time To Wait For Supreme Court ~Saraki Tells PDP To Close Ranks Before INEC Deadlines | Southwest First Alert Magazine
Former Senate President Bukola Saraki called on Tuesday for the Peoples Democratic Party to set aside its factional disputes, withdraw all ongoing litigation, and convene a new inclusive national convention without delay, arguing that waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on the nullified Ibadan convention would leave the party unable to meet the Independent National Electoral Commission’s timetable for candidate nominations ahead of the 2027 general elections. Saraki’s statement, released through his media aide Yusuph Olaniyonu, came after the Court of Appeal on 9 March upheld a Federal High Court judgment nullifying the outcome of the PDP’s convention held in Ibadan on 15 and 16 November 2025. Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, reading the panel’s judgment, held that the PDP had violated constitutional provisions governing the conduct of a convention and dismissed the party’s appeal against the lower court’s jurisdiction. The practical consequence of the ruling is that the party’s current national leadership structure lacks a definitive legal foundation, its officers’ mandates are in question, and any candidate tickets issued on the basis of that leadership are potentially vulnerable to legal challenge.
Saraki argued that some party leaders had been warned from the beginning that proceeding with the Ibadan convention over unresolved internal disputes would produce precisely this kind of legal complication. He said those who raised the warnings did so to protect the party, and that the current crisis vindicated their caution. He acknowledged that the court battle had bruised egos, but stressed that statesmanship required placing the collective interests of the party above personal ambitions. He appealed to all factions — specifically the Turaki camp, which has announced it will take the matter to the Supreme Court, and the Wike-aligned faction that controls the current national secretariat — to step back from adversarial positions and engage in dialogue. INEC’s revised electoral timetable scheduled primaries for April and May 2026, with the party’s own convention set for 29-30 March. Saraki said there was simply no time for continuous bickering and grandstanding, and that the aspirations of thousands of PDP members preparing to contest seats in state assemblies, the National Assembly, governorship races, and ultimately the presidency were all at stake.
Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal, whose Monday defection to the APC reduced the PDP to two governors, explained on Tuesday through spokesman Sulaiman Bala Idris that the Appeal Court ruling had been the decisive trigger for his exit. Lawal’s statement described him as the last man standing in the PDP who had remained committed until the judgment was handed down, noting that he had spent months attempting to reconcile factions and broker out-of-court settlements that could have resolved the dispute before it reached the Court of Appeal. He said the appellate ruling had ended his stay in the party and that his decision to join the APC was aimed at sustaining what he called the Zamfara Rescue and Rebuild Mission. Notably, Lawal’s deputy Mani Mummuni had announced the defection in Gusau on Monday in Lawal’s absence — the governor was in Saudi Arabia on Lesser Hajj at the time — underscoring the planned and coordinated nature of the move, which had clearly been prepared well in advance of the judgment.
The PDP now faces a compacted sequence of existential deadlines.
The 29-30 March convention must produce a new national leadership structure that is both constitutionally valid and politically inclusive enough to hold the party together. INEC’s April-May primaries require that the party have a recognised leadership capable of authorising candidate nominations. And the Supreme Court challenge announced by the Turaki faction, if it results in a stay of proceedings at any level, could disrupt both the convention and the primaries simultaneously. Former BoT chairman Adolphus Wabara, speaking at Tuesday’s expanded BoT session, framed the Appeal Court ruling as an order to begin again — a characterisation that was simultaneously accurate as a legal matter and potentially useful as a political reframe for leaders who need a face-saving way to accept the judgment without capitulating entirely.
Whether Saraki’s call for compromise, Wabara’s invitation to begin again, and Makinde’s defiant insistence that the party has a future will be enough to hold the PDP together through the next sixty days is a question that will determine whether Nigeria enters 2027 with a functioning opposition or without one.
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