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By News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

ABUJA — The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday dismissed a suit filed by the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by former Senate President Adolphus Wabara, and awarded a total cost of N140 million against the plaintiffs for instituting what it described as a frivolous and unmeritorious case.

Justice Salim Ibrahim held that the suit, which sought to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise the Kabir Turaki, SAN-led interim National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP, constituted an abuse of court process and lacked merit.

The court further ordered lead counsel to the plaintiffs, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, to personally pay N10 million, saying the sanction was necessary to discourage lawyers from filing frivolous cases, particularly those involving the internal affairs of political parties.

Justice Ibrahim ruled that the award of costs was consistent with the provisions of Section 83(6)(b) of the Electoral Act, 2026, agreeing with the defendants that “cost follows event.”

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1159/2026, was filed on June 4 by Wabara and seven other plaintiffs, including BoT Secretary and former Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, former Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, PDP chieftain Chief Olabode George, former ministers Maryam Ciroma and Zainab Maina, Dame Esther Uduehi, and the PDP itself.

The plaintiffs had asked the court to compel INEC to recognise the Kabir Turaki-led interim NWC, arguing that the names of its members had been submitted to the electoral commission through letters dated May 4.

However, the Mohammed Abdulrahman-led PDP leadership, which is loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, challenged the competence of the suit and sought to be joined in the matter.

The faction’s National Chairman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, National Secretary, Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, National Legal Adviser Kamardeen Ajibade, alongside Imo PDP Chairman Austin Nwachukwu, Abraham Amah and George Turner, successfully applied to be joined as defendants.

A dramatic twist also emerged during the proceedings when Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sunday Ameh, announced his appearance for the PDP as the eighth plaintiff, insisting that the party never authorised Chief Uche to institute the action on its behalf.

Ameh subsequently sought an order striking out the PDP’s name from the suit and filed a notice of change of counsel, a move vigorously opposed by Uche.

In his judgment, Justice Ibrahim upheld Ameh’s argument and struck out the PDP as the eighth plaintiff, holding that Wabara and the other plaintiffs lacked the legal authority to institute the suit on behalf of the party.

The court also upheld the preliminary objections filed by INEC and the newly joined defendants, ruling that the dispute related to the internal affairs of a political party and was therefore outside the court’s jurisdiction.

Justice Ibrahim further held that the plaintiffs failed to establish any legal basis for the reliefs sought.

The judge affirmed the legitimacy of the Abdulrahman-led PDP leadership, noting that earlier court judgments, including a decision by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik which recognised the leadership and granted it access to the party’s national headquarters, remained valid and had not been set aside.

He also held that the March convention which produced the Abdulrahman-led leadership was conducted pursuant to an existing court judgment that had not been vacated.

According to the judge, the fresh action amounted to an attempt to relitigate issues that had already been conclusively determined by competent courts.

Consequently, the court dismissed the suit in its entirety, describing it as an abuse of court process, lacking in merit and wholly unmeritorious.