The Kabiru Turaki (SAN)-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking an order directing the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force to immediately unseal and vacate the party’s national secretariat and other offices across the country.
The request is contained in a Motion on Notice filed by the plaintiffs through their lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), seeking a mandatory injunction compelling the police to remove all barricades, unseal and withdraw from the PDP national headquarters.
The PDP national secretariat was sealed in November following clashes between two rival factions of the party — one led by Turaki and the other aligned with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The confrontation arose after both factions planned to hold meetings at the party headquarters on the same day. Police intervention followed, during which tear gas was fired, after which the premises were locked and barricaded.
The sealing of the secretariat with barbed-wire barricades prevented the Turaki-led National Working Committee from holding its postponed inaugural meeting.
Turaki emerged as the party’s national chairman at a national convention held in Ibadan, Oyo State, in November.
However, the Wike-aligned faction rejected the convention, arguing that it violated subsisting court orders restraining the PDP from holding the exercise.
