Following Thursday’s judgment of the Supreme Court which invalidated the Ibadan Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and also upheld the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Umar Bature, Kamaldeen Ajibade as National Secretary, National Organizing Secretary and National Legal Adviser respectively, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Party chaired by Senator Adolphus Wabara has announced that it has assumes leadership of the PDP.
The apex court in a unanimous decision of the five justices on Thursday, April 30, 2026, upheld the suspension of Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Umar Bature, Kamaldeen Ajibade as National Secretary, National Organizing Secretary and National Legal Adviser respectively from the Party.
The PDP BoT in a statement by Senator Wabara noted that the implication of the Supreme Court judgment is that all actions taken by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, Hon. Umar Bature and Barr. Kamaldeen Ajibade including the appointment of Abdulrahman Mohammed as Acting National Chairman, the composition of a National Caretaker Working Committee and the conduct and outcome of the March 29, 2026 Convention in Abuja are illegal, null and ab initio void.
The statement said that pursuant to the empowering provisions of the Constitution of the PDP (As amended in 2017), the intervention of the Board of Trustees is so as not to allow any leadership vacuum at the national level of the party following judgment of the Supreme Court.
The PDP BoT said that the consequential invalidation of both the Abdulrahman Mohammed-led as well as the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led Working Committees directly places the statutory onus of leadership of the party on the shoulders of the Board of Trustees (BoT) as the Second Highest Organ of the Party, pursuant to the express and unambiguous provision of Section 32 (5) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017).
Wabara said that against this backdrop, the BoT has therefore immediately assumed responsibility of the national working leadership of the PDP as immediate constitutional remedial steps to foster genuine reconciliation, salvage, stabilize and return the party to good political health.
Towards this end, the leadership of the Party has scheduled an emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC), pursuant to the provisions of Section 31 of the Constitution of the PDP on Monday, May 4, 2026, among other things, to appoint an Interim National Working Committee to take charge of the National Secretariat of the Party and also pilot the affairs of the Party at the national level so as to meet all the timeline in the Electoral Act, 2026 and ensure that the PDP fields candidates and also emerged victorious in all elective positions in the 2027 general elections.
Consequently, the BoT directed all staff of the Party to resume at the National Secretariat of the Party under the leadership of the BoT ahead of the appointment of the Interim National Working Committee.
The BoT commended the courage, effort and resilience of Governor Bala Mohammed and Governor Seyi Makinde, the National Assembly caucus, the National Ex-officios, the Forum of PDP State Chairmen and State chapters, the Youth and Women Wings and other organs and bodies in the PDP for standing strong for the party at this trying time.
It particularly called on all leaders and members of the party to jettison all personal and group interests and come together as one family in the overall interest of the Party, democracy and the wellbeing of millions of Nigerians whose hope are anchored on the PDP.
Wabara said; “The PDP has suffered enough; the painful victims of this unfortunate episode is the Nigerian people. “The time has therefore come for us to make sacrifices, sheathe our swords and embrace genuine reconciliations for lasting peace and chart a new course for our party,” he appealed.
