Appeal Court Affirms Lamido’s Exclusion as Rights Breach, Upholds Judgment Halting PDP Convention

The Court of Appeal Nigeria sitting in Abuja has affirmed the ruling of Justice Peter Lifu which restrained a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Tanimu Turaki from conducting its National Convention in Ibadan in November last year.

The appellate court held that the exclusion of former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido, from contesting the party’s national chairmanship position amounted to a violation of his rights.

In a unanimous judgment delivered on Monday, a three-member panel of the court ruled that courts have the jurisdiction to entertain matters involving political parties when their actions violate the Nigerian Constitution, the Electoral Act, or the constitution of the party involved.

The panel further held that the court is particularly empowered to intervene where the rights of party members are breached, as in the case involving Lamido. It therefore affirmed that the trial judge had acted properly in addressing the grievance when he halted the planned convention.

The appellate court also faulted the decision of the Turaki-led faction of the PDP to proceed with the National Convention despite an existing order of the Federal High Court restraining the exercise.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam criticised what he described as a growing trend where litigants selectively obey court orders.

He stressed that parties dissatisfied with a court ruling should either appeal the decision or seek a stay of execution rather than resort to what the court described as “self-help.”

The court emphasised that disobedience to court orders constitutes a direct affront to the authority of the judiciary and cannot be tolerated.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal filed by the Turaki-led faction of the PDP for lacking merit and awarded N2 million costs against the group.