Supreme Court reserves judgment in Anyanwu’s suit to void sack as PDP secretary

The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu seeking to nullify his removal as the National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The apex court on Monday in Abuja reserved the judgment after taking arguments from Anyanwu’s lawyer, Kingsley Njemanze SAN and Chief Paul Erokoro SAN who stood for Aniagu Emmanuel.

Justice Musa Awani Aba-Aji, who led the five-man panel of justices that heard the matter, said that the date for the judgment delivery would be communicated to all parties when ready.

Anyanwu, who was removed from office on account of his resignation to contest the last Imo governorship election, which he lost, had sued the PDP leadership for blocking him to continue to remain in office after having lost his gubernatorial ambition.

At Monday’s proceedings, Anyanwu urged the Supreme Court to void and set aside the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu, which had in their concurrent judgments removed him as PDP National Secretary.

He insisted that having lost his gubernatorial adventure in the Imo governorship poll in 2023, he should be allowed to stage a comeback to retain the same office he resigned from.

However, counsel to Aniagu Emmanuel, Chief Paul Erokoro SAN, told the Justices that Anyanwu’s prayer violated the Constitution of the PDP, adding that having resigned as the National Secretary to contest another election, he cannot be allowed to return to the office.

PDP and Ambassador Illiya Damagun, who are the 2nd and 3rd respondents in the appeal, did not file any process for or against Anyanwu’s suit.

However, the 4th respondent, Ali Odeifa, objected to the request of Anyanwu’s bid to return to the office of the National Secretary.

Odeifa, who was represented by lawyer Okwudili Anozie, urged the apex court to dismiss Anyawu’s suit for being frivolous, baseless, and lacking in merit.

In an inquiry by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim to know whether the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over the leadership of the PDP, Paul Erokoro replied that the Court had not been consistent in its decisions on such matters.

Erokoro SAN drew the attention of the Court to the matter of a former National Chairman of PDP, Senator Alimodu Sheriff, on the same leadership dispute, where he said that the Supreme Court assumed jurisdiction and delivered judgment that settled the matter against Sheriff.

Earlier, the Court had dismissed the request brought before it by Anyanwu seeking to stay the execution of the judgments of the Court of Appeal and that of the Federal High Court that removed him as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The apex court threw out the request when Anyanwu, in a dramatic turn, applied for withdrawal of the request.
Justice Musa Awani Aba-Aji dismissed the request when Kingsley Njemanze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), withdrew the request on behalf of his client.

The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu had, in their concurrent judgements, removed Anyanwu as PDP National Secretary.

However, at Monday’s proceedings, Anyanwu backed down, urging the Supreme Court to allow him to withdraw the bid to stop the execution of the judgments against him.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu had last December upheld a High Court decision that sacked Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP.

The appellate court subsequently upheld Chief Sunday Ude-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary of the main opposition party.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Ridwan Abdullahi, the Court of Appeal held that Anyanwu’s appeal was incompetent and lacking in merit.

According to the appellate court, the appellant violated the PDP’s constitution by laying claim to the National Secretary position, having contested and emerged as the PDP candidate in the 2024 governorship election in Imo State.

Dissatisfied, Anyanwu approached the apex court to set aside the judgment of the two lower courts and recognize him as the authentic National Secretary of the PDP.