The ailing opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may not field candidates to contest the 2027 general elections at all levels as the leadership crisis that is currently bedeviling the party may likely take longer time to resolve.
This is against the backdrop of the Appeal Court judgment today in Abuja affirming the judgment of the Federal High Court nullifying the PDP national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, on November 15 and 16, which produced a former minister, Tanimu Turaki, as the party’s national chairman.
A three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Mohammed Danjuma, upheld the earlier ruling delivered by Justice James Omotosho. of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which stopped the convention on the grounds that the party failed to properly conduct congresses before the event.
In its judgment, the appellate court agreed with the lower court that the absence of duly conducted congresses undermined the legality of the convention that produced Turaki as national chairman of the opposition party.
The court also rejected the argument by the Turaki-led faction of the PDP that the matter was an internal party affair and, therefore, outside the jurisdiction of the court.
Earlier in the proceedings, the panel dismissed a preliminary objection filed by the Turaki faction which challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to entertain the suit.
Similarly, the appellate court rejected another objection raised by a faction of the party loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, which argued that Chris Uche, was not competent to represent the PDP in the matter.
The court held that the objection lacked merit, noting that the former PDP National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, had earlier been suspended by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC)  thereby validating the representation by Uche.
Today’s judgment comes less than one month to the deadline for the submission of membership register to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, raising fears that neither the Turaki-led faction nor the Wike group is in a position to activate processes leading to the.completion of the registration exercise before the expiration of the INEC deadline.
A source close to a chieftain of one of the factions argue that even if the leadership crisis is resolved today, the PDP would not be able to conduct proper and acceptable congresses between April 23 and May 30 as stipulated in the INEC guidelines, adding that on the basis of that, the party would not be able to  present candidates for the next general elections scheduled to begin on January 16, 2027.
Furthermore, a party bigwig in Turaki’s faction was heard saying shortly after the  Appeal Court panel delivered its judgment that the group would approach the Supreme Court for final determination of the dispute.
