A faction of Nigeria’s opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Kabiru Turaki (SAN) has asked the federal high court in Abuja to order the police to immediately unseal and vacate the party’s national secretariat and other offices across the country.
In a motion on notice filed through its lead counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), the group is seeking a mandatory injunction directing the inspector general of police and the Nigeria Police Force to remove all barricades, unseal the premises and withdraw from the PDP’s headquarters in Abuja.
The party’s national secretariat was sealed in November after clashes between two rival PDP factions — one loyal to Turaki and the other aligned with the minister of the federal capital territory, Nyesom Wike. Tensions flared when both camps planned to hold meetings at the headquarters on the same day, prompting police intervention. Tear gas was fired and the premises were subsequently locked and barricaded with barbed wire.
The closure prevented the Turaki-led national working committee from holding its postponed inaugural meeting. Turaki had emerged as national chairman at a national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo state, in November — a gathering rejected by the Wike-aligned faction, which argued that it violated existing court orders restraining the party from holding the exercise.
Earlier, two judges of the federal high court in Abuja, James Omotosho and Peter Lifu, had barred the PDP from convening its national convention scheduled for 15 and 16 November 2025. A high court in Ibadan later granted an ex parte order allowing the convention to proceed.
At the Ibadan meeting, the PDP announced the expulsion of Wike, its embattled national secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, the Wike-aligned factional chairman, Mohammed Abdulrahman, and eight others, citing alleged anti-party activities.
In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/252/2025, filed by the PDP alongside Turaki and the chair of its board of trustees, Adolphus Wabara, the plaintiffs are asking the court to restrain the police from invading, sealing or occupying any of the party’s offices in Nigeria’s 36 states, including the Abuja secretariat and its annex.
They specifically want the court to order the police to “immediately remove all barricades, unseal and vacate forthwith” the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza in Wuse, Abuja, as well as its annex, Legacy House, in Maitama, pending the determination of the suit.
The plaintiffs also seek an order preventing the police and their agents from restricting access to any PDP office nationwide while the case is ongoing.
In arguments supporting the application, the Turaki-led faction accused the police of invading and occupying the party’s offices without lawful authority since 18 November 2025. An affidavit sworn by the PDP’s national secretary, Taofik Arapaja, said the party had duly notified the Independent National Electoral Commission of the outcome of its Ibadan convention in a letter dated 17 November.
Arapaja said the party had merely informed security agencies of an emergency stakeholders’ meeting scheduled for 18 November and requested protection. Instead, he alleged, a police team led by the FCT commissioner arrived at the secretariat, fired more than 200 tear gas canisters and sealed the premises, barring party officials, staff and visiting governors — including those of Bauchi and Oyo states — from entry.
According to the plaintiffs, the police action was taken without a valid court order and amounts to an arbitrary and unlawful occupation of the party’s property. They argue that the continued closure has paralysed the PDP’s operations, from administration and policy coordination to membership management and election preparations.
The party further contends that the police, established under the Nigeria Police Act 2020, must not act in a partisan manner. It urged the court to intervene, saying the balance of convenience favours granting the injunction and that damages would not adequately remedy the harm suffered if access is not restored.
Granting the application, the plaintiffs argue, would serve the interest of justice and prevent the police action from being seen as implicitly sanctioned by the court.
