2027 Election Outlook: Supreme Court Set to Decide Fate of PDP and ADC This Thursday

The Supreme Court is set to deliver a judgment on Thursday that will significantly impact the fortunes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Party (ADC) ahead of the 2027 general elections, with notices sent out on Wednesday indicating judgments in four separate appeals related to leadership crises in the two opposition parties.

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While the PDP appeals seek validation of the outcome of the national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, 2025, the ADC appeal challenges the interference of courts in the alleged domestic affairs of the party.

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A five-member panel of the apex court, headed by Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, had on April 22 reserved judgment on the cases after all parties involved adopted their respective briefs of argument.

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In one of the appeals, marked SC/CV/164/2026, the Tanimu Turaki, SAN-led factional national executives of the PDP, sought the setting aside of judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court in Abuja, which faulted the conduct of the Ibadan convention.

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The appellate court had berated the Turaki-led PDP for defying the November 14, 2025, judgment of Justice Peter Lifu of the high court, which stopped the Ibadan convention, with the high court specifically barring the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising, monitoring, or recognising any convention held without including former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido as a contestant.

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The restraining order followed a suit filed by Lamido, a foundation member of the PDP, alleging he had been arbitrarily denied the chance to contest for National Chairman, with the trial court finding that Lamido had been unjustly denied a nomination form, contrary to the PDP Constitution and guidelines.

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The trial court declared that the party must create opportunities for members to aspire to positions, with a consequential order halting the convention to allow Lamido to obtain the form, mobilize supporters, and campaign.

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Dissatisfied with the decision, the Turaki-led PDP filed an appeal to set it aside, which was dismissed by the appellate court, holding that the appellants resorted to self-help and contemptuous conduct by proceeding with the convention despite the restraining order.

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The appellate court ruled that the party should have sought suspension of the judgment from a higher court, rather than obtaining a favourable order from another court of coordinate jurisdiction, describing the PDP’s action as a direct affront to judicial authority and a gross abuse of court process.

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A second appeal, also filed by the Turaki-led group, seeks to void the court order that barred INEC from monitoring the contentious Ibadan convention, with the appellants challenging the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which upheld judgments barring the PDP from proceeding with the Ibadan convention.

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The appellate court had held that the convention, which produced the Turaki, SAN-led factional leadership, lacked legal backing as it disobeyed two Federal High Court judgments in Abuja delivered on October 31 and November 14, 2025.

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The Justice Mohammed Danjuma-led panel dismissed the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1613/2025, filed by the PDP faction aligned with Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, finding no reason to overturn Justice James Omotosho’s verdict of the high court, which had barred INEC from validating the Ibadan convention outcome.

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The high court had faulted the PDP for failing to conduct valid state congresses in 14 states before the convention, holding that the convention could not proceed without congresses to produce voting delegates for national officers in those states.

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The court also noted that notices for the convention were signed only by the National Chairman, excluding the National Secretary, rendering them a nullity, with Justice Omotosho ruling that the PDP’s failure to follow procedures had jeopardised the convention.

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He directed the party to conduct proper meetings and congresses with 21 days’ statutory notice to INEC for monitoring, with the defendants in the case including INEC, PDP, National Chairman Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum, and other national officers.

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In the case of the ADC, the apex court will deliver judgment in an appeal marked SC/CV/180/2026, filed by Senator David Mark, who leads a faction backed by frontline opposition figures, seeking to set aside a March 12 Court of Appeal judgment, which he said was against the interest of justice.

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Mark argued that the appellate court exceeded its jurisdiction by ordering maintenance of the status quo ante bellum in a suit filed by aggrieved party members led by Nafiu-Bala Gombe, contending that the dispute involves a political party’s domestic affairs, in which courts lack jurisdiction to intervene.

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He sought, among other reliefs, an order restraining INEC from recognising anyone other than him and the current national officers, pending determination of the appeal, and also requested orders barring INEC from altering the party’s leadership structure as currently constituted.

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Mark’s legal team, led by Mr. Jubril Okutepa, SAN, insisted the dispute is a non-justiciable internal party matter, as previously held by the Supreme Court, while INEC did not file any process to either support or counter the appeal.

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However, all the other respondents except Gombe urged the apex court to allow the appeal, maintaining that the trial court was properly seized of facts of the case that is still pending before it, with INEC having removed Mark and Aregbesola from its portal and website as ADC National Chairman and Secretary, respectively, on April 1.

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INEC said it would, in line with the order for maintenance of the status quo ante bellum, not recognise any of the warring factions until the legal dispute is determined, but the ADC vowed to proceed with its scheduled national convention despite INEC’s action.

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Justice Nwite of the Federal High Court had on April 14 adjourned sine die hearing of the substantive case that Gombe filed to sack the Senator Mark-led leadership of the ADC, saying he could not proceed with the matter in view of the related issue before the Supreme Court.