Supreme Court Declares Samuel Anyanwu As Authentic PDP National Secretary

The Supreme Court has declared Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the legitimate National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Naija News reports that the apex court, in its landmark ruling on Friday, also set aside the earlier judgement of the Court of Appeal in Enugu, which had gone against Anyanwu in his quest to remain the PDP scribe.

Justice Jamilu Tukur, who delivered the lead judgment of the Supreme Court, submitted that the matter is an internal affair of the PDP.

The Supreme Court agreed with Anyanwu’s argument through his lawyers that both the Court of Appeal and the trial court in Enugu lacked the authority to hear the case, as it involved the internal affairs of the PDP.

The Supreme Court consequently struck out the judgment of the trial court delivered in October last year and also set aside the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal which had in December affirmed the sack of Anyanwu as PDP’s National Secretary.

Justice Tukur subsequently affirmed the minority judgment of the appellate court delivered by Justice Ekanem, which had nullified the judgment of the trial court on account of lack of jurisdiction.

The apex court also held that the plaintiff, Aniagu Emmanuel, who initiated the suit at the trial court, lacked the necessary legal backing to do so since he did not show how he was affected by who is the National Secretary of the PDP.

Recall that the five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, had two weeks ago, reserved judgment in the suit by Anyanwu seeking to overturn the decision of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, which upheld an earlier ruling by the Federal High Court that removed him from office and recognized Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the rightful PDP National Secretary.

The lower courts held that Anyanwu had effectively resigned as the PDP Secretary when he contested the 2024 Imo State governorship election as the party’s candidate.

However, Anyanwu argued that the PDP constitution guarantees a four-year term for party officers and that the court wrongly applied Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022, which requires resignation before contesting an election.