A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has struck out a suit seeking to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognize and publish the names of the Kabiru Turaki-led interim National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Delivering the judgment on Friday, July 17, 2026, Justice Salim Ibrahim ruled that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to institute the action. The court subsequently threw out the suit for want of jurisdiction, sustaining the preliminary objections raised by INEC and other parties seeking to be joined in the matter. Justice Ibrahim held that the plaintiffs failed to establish that INEC had officially recognized the purported interim NWC or that they possessed the requisite authority to sue on behalf of the PDP.

The legal action was instituted by prominent party chieftains led by the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara. Other plaintiffs in the suit included former Niger State Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu, Professor Jerry Gana, Chief Olabode George, Hajiya Maryam Ciroma, and Hajiya Zainab Maina.

The Wabara-led Board of Trustees had approached the court to compel the electoral umpire to update its records and recognize the factional interim NWC headed by Kabiru Turaki, SAN.

They also sought a judicial order directing INEC to publish the names of the interim executives on its official website, arguing that the names had been forwarded to the commission through formal correspondence dated May 4. The plaintiffs contended that based on constitutional provisions and the PDP Constitution, INEC was obligated to act on communications from the interim leadership.