The Supreme Court on Friday nullified the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, which had sacked Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
A five-member panel of the apex court held, in a unanimous judgment, that the issue of who serves as the National Secretary of the PDP is an internal affair of the political party and, therefore, not justiciable.
Justice Jamilu Tukur, who delivered the lead judgment of the Supreme Court, consequently struck out the trial court’s judgment delivered in October 2024 and set aside the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had, in December last year, affirmed Anyanwu’s removal as PDP National Secretary.
Justice Tukur subsequently upheld the minority judgment of the appellate court delivered by Justice Ekanem, which had nullified the trial court’s decision on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the apex court held that the plaintiff, Aniagu Emmanuel, who filed the suit at the trial court, lacked the necessary legal standing to do so, as he failed to demonstrate how he was affected by the appointment of the PDP’s National Secretary.
The Supreme Court had, on March 10, reserved judgment in the matter after hearing arguments from Anyanwu’s counsel, Kingsley Njemanze, SAN, and Chief Paul Erokoro, SAN, who represented Aniagu Emmanuel.
Anyanwu, who was removed from office following his resignation to contest the last Imo State governorship election—which he lost—had sued the PDP leadership for preventing him from returning to his position as PDP National Secretary after his electoral defeat.
He urged the Supreme Court to void and set aside the concurrent judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu, which had removed him as PDP National Secretary.
Anyanwu argued that, having lost his governorship bid in the 2023 Imo State election, he should be allowed to return to the office he had resigned from.
However, Chief Paul Erokoro, SAN, who represented Aniagu Emmanuel, countered that Anyanwu’s request violated the PDP Constitution, emphasizing that since he had resigned as National Secretary to contest another election, he could not lawfully return to the position.
PDP and Ambassador Illiya Damagun, the 2nd and 3rd respondents in the appeal, did not file any process either for or against Anyanwu’s suit. However, the 4th respondent, Ali Odeifa, objected to Anyanwu’s attempt to reclaim the position of PDP National Secretary.
Odeifa, through his counsel, Okwudili Anozie, urged the apex court to dismiss Anyanwu’s suit, calling it frivolous, baseless, and lacking merit.
During the proceedings, Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim inquired whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction over the leadership of the PDP. In response, Erokoro argued that the court had been inconsistent in its rulings on similar matters. He pointed to the case of former PDP National Chairman, Senator Alimodu Sheriff, in which the Supreme Court had assumed jurisdiction and delivered a judgment that resolved the leadership dispute against Sheriff.
It is worth recalling that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu had, in their concurrent judgments, removed Anyanwu as PDP National Secretary.
The Court of Appeal, sitting in Enugu, had last December upheld the High Court’s decision to sack Anyanwu as PDP National Secretary and affirmed Chief Sunday Ude-Okoye as the party’s substantive National Secretary.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Ridwan Abdullahi, the Court of Appeal ruled that Anyanwu’s appeal was incompetent and lacked merit.
According to the appellate court, the appellant had violated the PDP Constitution by laying claim to the National Secretary position despite contesting and emerging as the PDP candidate in the 2024 Imo State governorship election.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Anyanwu approached the Supreme Court last month, seeking to have the judgments of the two lower courts overturned and to be reinstated as the legitimate National Secretary of the PDP.
