The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed a suit filed by Samuel Anyanwu, seeking validation as the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The judge, Mohammed Umar, dismissed the suit after Mr Anyanwu’s lawyer disclosed that his client’s tenure as PDP’s national secretary expired in December last year.
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Sued as defendants in the suit were the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Umar Damagun, a factional national chairman; Sunday Udeh‑Okoye, PDP National Vice Cairman, South‑East; Ali Odela, deputy national secretary; and Setonji Koshoedo, deputy national secretary.
Speaking earlier during Tuesday‘s proceedings, Mr Anyanwu’s lawyer, U. C. Njemanze‑Aku, said it was not proper “for a matter that has been overtaken by events to continue.”
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“In the interest of justice, I apply to withdraw this matter to save the court’s time,” Mr Njemanze-Aku said.
Responding, INEC’s lawyer, Akintayo Balogun, said the suit “ought not to have been instituted in the first place” and asked the court to dismiss it with costs. He requested one million naira.
M. O. Akpan, the lawyer who represented Mr Damagun, also argued that the suit should not have been filed and sought N1.5 million as cost. Similarly, Ugochukwu Okanu, representing the fourth defendant and J. A. Musa for the sixth defendant asked for N1 million each for the same reason.
However, Mr Njemanze-Aku frowned on the positions of the defendants and their requests for cost.
He insisted that the withdrawal was due to circumstances beyond his client’s control. “We owe a duty to the court, and to avoid wasting its time, we decided to withdraw the case,” he said.
He added that “it is not fair to penalise the plaintiff,” and urged the court to allow the parties to bear their own costs.
After listening to the arguments, the judge dismissed the suit. Regarding costs, he ruled that “the delay is not on any of the parties. The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost.”
Background
The crisis over the PDP national secretary position began when Mr Anyanwu vacated the role to contest the 2023 Imo State governorship election, which he lost.
Following his defeat, efforts to reclaim the position led to internal conflict in the party, with Mr Udeh‑Okoye emerging as a contender for the seat.
On 20 December 2024, the Court of Appeal in Enugu upheld an earlier decision of the Federal High Court, which removed Mr Anyanwu and affirmed Mr Udeh‑Okoye as the authentic secretary.
However, Mr Anyanwu swiftly filed for a stay of execution and subsequently appealed the decision at the Supreme Court.
In March 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court sacking Mr Anyanwu as the national secretary of the PDP.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, the leadership dispute did not immediately end, with different factions continuing to assert authority within the PDP’s national secretariat.
To address lingering legal uncertainty, Mr Anyanwu subsequently filed a fresh suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking enforcement of his position and related declarations.
In November last year, the Federal High Court granted him an application seeking to amend the originating summons he filed in the suit.
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The judge, Mr Umar, allowed the amendment of the plaintiff’s application, but awarded a cost of N30,000 to be paid by the plaintiff to each of the defendants, and adjourned the matter till 20 January for hearing.
It was when the matter was called for hearing on Tuesday that Mr Anyanwu, through his lawyer, decided to end the long legal battle.
