The Federal High Court in Abuja has stopped the Peoples Democratic Party from holding its national convention.
Justice Peter Lifu issued the order on Friday. He ruled that the party must sell its chairmanship nomination form to former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido before the event can go ahead.
The judge said the PDP violated its own constitution and guidelines by denying Lamido access to the form.
Justice Lifu stated that every political party must obey its own rules.
He said this principle is important because it prevents illegality and promotes fairness.
He explained that the PDP failed to follow its procedures, and that failure created an uneven process ahead of the national convention. Because of that, the court had to intervene.
Lamido told the court that he visited the PDP national secretariat on October 27 to buy the chairmanship nomination form. He said he was denied access even though the form was not yet closed.
He also said the party’s guidelines require the form to remain available until 14 days before the convention.
Therefore, he argued that the party acted unlawfully when it refused to sell the form to him.
Justice Lifu agreed with his complaint. He reviewed documents tendered before the court.
In one of the exhibits, the party’s consensus candidate reportedly said that “how we got the form is immaterial” as long as the timetable had closed. The judge said the tone of that statement revealed an irregular and opaque process.
He added that the PDP did not maintain transparency in the way the nomination form was handled.
Because of these issues, Justice Lifu ordered the PDP to open the process and provide equal opportunity to all eligible members.
He said Lamido must be allowed to exercise his constitutional right to contest for the national chairmanship position.
He stressed that internal democracy cannot survive when parties shut out legitimate aspirants.
Consequently, the court placed the PDP national convention on hold. It also barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from monitoring or recognising the exercise until the party complies with the ruling.
Justice Lifu said the convention scheduled for November 15 and 16 cannot proceed unless the PDP does the needful and restores fairness.
The ruling has created fresh tension within the party. Some members believe the judgment may reshape the leadership contest.
Others fear the delay could affect PDP’s preparation for future elections.
However, the judge made it clear that compliance with internal procedures is more important than rushing the event.
Supporters of Sule Lamido welcomed the ruling. They said the decision proved that their candidate was unfairly blocked.
They also insisted that the PDP must protect internal democracy if it wants to rebuild public trust. Party officials have not released an official statement on the judgment.