PDP Crisis Deepens As Rival Faction Drags IGP To Court Over Sealed Secretariat.

The faction, through a Motion on Notice filed by its lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), is asking the court to compel the Inspector-General of Police and the police authorities to immediately unseal and vacate the PDP’s national headquarters and remove all barricades restricting access to the premises.

The suit follows the sealing of the party’s Wadata Plaza secretariat in November after violent confrontations erupted between two rival PDP factions — one loyal to Turaki and the other aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike. The clashes reportedly broke out after both groups fixed meetings at the party headquarters on the same day.

Security operatives intervened to restore order, firing tear gas to disperse party members before locking the premises and fortifying it with barbed wire. The development prevented the Turaki-led National Working Committee from convening its postponed inaugural meeting.

Turaki had emerged as national chairman at a PDP national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November. However, the Wike-aligned faction rejected the outcome of the convention, insisting that it was conducted in defiance of existing court orders restraining the party from holding the exercise.

Earlier, two judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja had barred the PDP from holding its national convention scheduled for November 15 and 16, 2025. In contrast, a High Court sitting in Ibadan later granted the party approval to proceed with the convention through an ex parte order.

In the substantive suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/252/2025, filed by the PDP alongside Turaki and the Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees, Adolphus Wabara, the plaintiffs are seeking an order restraining the police from invading, sealing or limiting access to any PDP office in the 36 states of the federation.

Specifically, they are asking the court to issue a mandatory injunction directing the police to immediately remove all barricades, unseal and vacate the PDP national secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja, as well as its annex known as Legacy House in Maitama, pending the determination of the suit.

In an affidavit supporting the application, sworn to by PDP National Secretary, Taofik Arapaja, the party alleged that police officers sealed its offices on November 18, 2025, without any lawful authority. He explained that the PDP had merely notified security agencies, including the police and the Department of State Services, of an emergency stakeholders’ meeting and requested security presence.

Arapaja further alleged that instead of providing protection, police officers led by the Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory fired more than 200 tear gas canisters and sealed the premises, denying access to party officials, staff members and visiting governors, including those of Bauchi and Oyo states.

The plaintiffs argued that the prolonged closure of the secretariat has crippled the party’s administrative activities, policy coordination, membership management and preparations for future elections. They also maintained that the Nigeria Police Force, as a statutory institution under the Nigeria Police Act 2020, should not be seen to be acting in a partisan manner.

The PDP urged the court to grant the reliefs sought, stressing that the balance of convenience favours the party and that monetary compensation would not adequately address the damage caused by the police action. The faction added that granting the application would serve the interest of justice and prevent the impression that the continued sealing of the secretariat has judicial backing.