Today the Appeal Court decides whether Nigeria has a functioning opposition going into 2027.

Nigeria's main opposition party has two chairmen, two secretariats, a police-sealed national headquarters, and a crisis so deep that INEC has refused to recognise either faction.

This morning, the Court of Appeal in Abuja delivers consolidated judgment on nine appeals from the PDP leadership war. One faction is backed by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and a caretaker committee. The other is backed by Governors Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammed, with a National Working Committee led by Tanimu Turaki.

Both camps told Punch they're confident they'll win.

What's at stake isn't really about Wike or Makinde. It's about whether Nigeria enters 2027 with a viable opposition party or a rubber-stamp democracy. Every day the PDP is paralysed, APC governs with less accountability. The Zamfara governor has already said he'll defect if the ruling goes against his faction. More may follow.

The APC benefits from every week this crisis continues. That's not a conspiracy. It's arithmetic.

Whatever the court decides today, watch who accepts the ruling and who appeals it. That answer will tell you more about the PDP's future than the judgment itself.