Court of Appeal

Author: Gist Correspondent

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has nullified the recognition of a factional caretaker committee within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ruling that a Federal High Court exceeded its jurisdiction by granting reliefs that were not sought by any of the parties involved in the suit.

In a judgment delivered on Wednesday by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, a certified true copy of which was obtained on Friday, the appellate court overturned critical portions of the January 30 judgment of Justice Uche Agomoh of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, which had recognised the caretaker committee led by Abdurahman Mohammed and Samuel Anyanwu as the legitimate leadership of the PDP.

The Court of Appeal held that the lower court ventured beyond the issues presented before it by endorsing a factional leadership structure that was not part of the reliefs sought by the litigants.

Justice Onyemenam stated that the trial court erred by recognising and upholding a caretaker committee despite the absence of any request for such a declaration from the parties. According to the appellate court, the ruling amounted to granting unsolicited reliefs, a practice not permitted under the law.

The court further observed that the legal basis for the Federal High Court’s decision had already been invalidated by a Supreme Court judgment that nullified the PDP’s Ibadan Convention held on November 15 and 16, 2025. It held that any committee, leadership structure or party organ that emerged from the convention automatically lost its legal foundation following the apex court’s decision.

The appellate court stressed that once the convention was declared null and void by the Supreme Court, all structures created or validated through it became legally unsustainable.

Justice Onyemenam noted that although the court could have considered ordering a retrial on issues arising from the convention, such a move would be unnecessary since the substantive questions had already been conclusively settled by the Supreme Court.

The judgment maintained that directing a retrial would effectively require the lower court to revisit matters already determined by the apex court, an action that would be contrary to established legal principles.

The court also ruled that there was no longer any live dispute between the parties, as the core issues underpinning the appeal had been resolved by previous decisions of both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.

The unanimous judgment was endorsed by the other members of the three-man panel, Justices Mohammed Mustapha and Okon Abang.

The ruling effectively removes the legal basis upon which the Federal High Court recognised the caretaker committee linked to the Abdurahman Mohammed faction, marking another significant development in the prolonged leadership crisis within the PDP.