The crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party has escalated as the Kabiru Turaki (SAN)-led faction asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to order the police to unseal the party’s national secretariat. The group accused security agencies of unlawfully occupying PDP offices nationwide amid a fierce leadership struggle.
The request is contained in a motion filed against the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force. The plaintiffs are seeking a mandatory injunction directing the police to immediately remove barricades and vacate the PDP’s national headquarters and annex in Abuja.
The party secretariat was sealed in November after violent clashes between two rival PDP factions. One faction is led by Turaki, who emerged as national chairman at a convention in Ibadan, while the other is aligned with Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike. Both groups had planned meetings at the headquarters on the same day, prompting police intervention.
During the confrontation, tear gas was fired and the premises were later sealed with barbed wire. The action effectively prevented the Turaki-led National Working Committee from holding its inaugural meeting.
Turaki’s emergence followed a national convention held in Ibadan on November 15 and 16, 2025. The Wike-aligned bloc rejected the exercise, arguing it violated existing court orders restraining the PDP from holding the convention. Two Federal High Court judges in Abuja had earlier barred the event, while a separate Ibadan High Court issued an ex parte order allowing it to proceed.
At the convention, the party announced the expulsion of Wike, PDP National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu, a factional chairman, and several others for alleged anti-party activities, further deepening divisions.
In the fresh suit, the PDP, Turaki, and Board of Trustees Chairman Adolphus Wabara asked the court to restrain the police from invading or restricting access to any PDP office across Nigeria. They insist the police acted without lawful authority when they sealed the Wadata Plaza headquarters and its Maitama annex.
An affidavit deposed by PDP National Secretary Taofik Arapaja stated that INEC was notified of the convention outcome. He said security agencies were merely informed of an emergency stakeholders’ meeting and asked to provide protection, not to shut down the secretariat.
According to the filing, police officers fired over 200 tear gas canisters and blocked access to party officials, staff, and visiting governors, including those of Bauchi and Oyo states.
The PDP argued that the continued closure has crippled its operations and accused the police of acting in a partisan manner. The party urged the court to intervene, warning that allowing the situation to persist would undermine internal democracy and public confidence in law enforcement neutrality.
