By Abiola Olawale
The leadership crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has continued to escalate as the faction led by Kabiru Tanimu Turaki (SAN) formally petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun.
In the petition, the Turaki-led PDP warned against the planned reopening of the party’s National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, to a rival faction.
The move comes in response to declarations made by the rival National Caretaker Committee, backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and led by Abdulrahman Mohammed and Senator Samuel Anyanwu.
The Mohammed-led group announced they would “take over” the secretariat this coming Monday, February 9, citing a recent Federal High Court judgment in Ibadan that nullified the Turaki-led NWC’s mandate.
In a swift counter-move, the Turaki-led NWC—which emerged from the Ibadan convention in November 2025—urged the IGP to maintain the status quo.
They argued that because the court’s decision is already being challenged at the Court of Appeal, the secretariat remains a lis pendens (a matter under litigation) and should not be handed over to any party.
The factional national publicity secretary of the party, Comrade Ini Ememobong, stated this in a statement on Friday.
Ememobong said in the statement that, “We have been notified of the intention of some expelled members of our party to either forcibly or in connivance with security forces gain access to and occupy our National Secretariat and other party property.
“In response to this, we have written to the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command reminding them that the secretariat is still a res before the Federal High Court, Abuja, and the Court of Appeal.
“To this end, any attempt to enter and occupy this property will be a resort to self-help and an affront to the time-tested principle of law that parties who have submitted to the jurisdiction of courts should not act in ways that will render nugatory, the powers of the Court.
“In this particular instance, the case pending before Justice Joyce Abdulmalik was instituted by the expelled members, they cannot resort to self-help, until judgment is delivered in the matter.
“This statement serves to remind all the dramatis personae, especially the Police Force, which is a party on record in the said matter, that any action taken to grant access to anybody, pending the determination of the suit, is a contempt of the court.”
He added that they will deploy all legal means to defend their property from trespass.
“Responsibility for any injury to persons or damage to property arising therefrom should be placed solely on the aggressors and their security collaborators,” he said.
