The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday fixed Jan. 23 to hear the application for stay of further proceedings filed by the Kabiru Turaki-led Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, against a suit instituted by a faction of the party in the camp of the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to allow counsel for the plaintiffs, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, to respond to the motion for stay.
The Wike-led PDP and its acting National Chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Abdulrahman, alongside Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the factional National Secretary, had filed the suit.
The plaintiffs, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2501/2025, sought an order of injunction restraining the Turaki-led leadership, 5th to 25th defendants, from parading themselves as representatives of the PDP in any capacity.
They also prayed the court to stop the police and the Department of State Services, DSS, from allowing the Turaki-led leadership access to the party’s national secretariat at Wadata Plaza, Abuja.
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The plaintiffs further sought an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from accepting any other office address from the Turaki-led leadership as the PDP’s official address other than that already contained in the commission’s records.
They also prayed the court to declare that INEC, the police and the DSS are constitutionally bound to enforce and give full effect to the judgments and rulings delivered by Justice James Omotosho and Justice Peter Lifu.
Justice Abdulmalik had earlier granted an ex-parte motion directing parties not to take any action pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
Following the order, the Turaki-led PDP challenged the decision at the Court of Appeal and also filed an application seeking a stay of proceedings pending the outcome of the appeal.
The Turaki-led leadership, through their lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, equally filed a motion on notice asking Justice Abdulmalik to recuse herself from the case, alleging a reasonable apprehension of bias.
When the case was called, Ikpeazu told the court that all pending applications were to be taken alongside the substantive suit and that the plaintiffs were ready to proceed.
Uche, however, informed the court that an appeal had been entered at the Court of Appeal with suit number CA/ABJ/CV/1770/2025 and that a motion for stay of proceedings had been filed.
He argued that once an appeal has been entered, the trial court ought not to proceed further and urged the court to adjourn the matter sine die, indefinitely.
Ikpeazu countered that the filing of an appeal does not automatically translate to a stay of proceedings, adding that the appeal was against an interlocutory decision and did not affect the substantive subject matter.
Justice Abdulmalik noted that the plaintiffs were served with the motion for stay only a day earlier and ruled that Ikpeazu should file a formal response.
The judge consequently adjourned the matter to Jan. 23 for hearing of the application for stay of further proceedings.
In the motion for recusal, the Turaki-led leadership asked the judge to withdraw from the case and remit the file to the Chief Judge for reassignment, citing the constitutional right to fair hearing under Section 36, 1 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Uche alleged perceived partisanship and claimed that ex-parte orders made by the court touched on the substantive issues of the suit at an interim stage.
NAN
