PDP Chieftain Defends Exclusion of Sule Lamido from National Convention Citing Procedural Failures and Venue Errors

PDP’s Umar Sani cites procedural errors and late form submission for Sule Lamido's exclusion from the national chairmanship race. Supreme Court appeal pending.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 11, 2026, 7:09 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Naija News

Procedural Discord at the Ibadan National Convention

The internal leadership struggle within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has intensified following clarifications regarding the exclusion of Sule Lamido from the National Convention held in Ibadan. Umar Sani, a prominent party chieftain, revealed that the decision to bar the former governor from the chairmanship race was rooted in a breach of the party’s standing rules. According to Sani, the convention, which ultimately produced the Kabiru Turaki-led National Working Committee, operated under a strict administrative schedule that Lamido reportedly failed to meet. This exclusion has triggered a protracted legal battle that now threatens to move from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Venue Errors and Timing Discrepancies

A primary point of contention involves the physical location where nomination forms were sold and submitted. Sani explained that while the party's main headquarters is at Wadata Plaza, the Convention Planning Committee had domiciled its operations at the party’s annex, Legacy House. Lamido allegedly attempted to purchase his forms at Wadata Plaza on the very day the submission window was scheduled to close. The party maintains that by the time Lamido surfaced, the administrative process for the sale of forms had effectively concluded. Sani argued that allowing a candidate to bypass these logistical requirements would undermine the constitutional integrity of the party’s electoral processes.

The Legal Battle and Court of Appeal Ruling

The dispute reached a critical stage when a Federal High Court in Abuja initially ruled in favor of Lamido, stating that his fundamental rights to contest for the chairmanship had been infringed upon. The court directed the PDP to create a "room for participation" for the former governor. However, the party leadership expressed dissatisfaction with this judicial intervention, arguing that the court "played deaf" to the party's constitutional requirements. Sani contended that the Court of Appeal similarly failed to recognize the "wisdom" of the party’s arguments, particularly the fact that Lamido had not actually obtained a form—a prerequisite for any candidate under the PDP constitution.