S’court reserves judgment in Anyanwu’s appeal to reclaim PDP national secretary position

The supreme court has reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Samuel Anyanwu challenging his removal as the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A five-member panel of justices, led by Uwani Aba-Aji, deferred its ruling on Monday in Abuja after hearing arguments from Anyanwu’s lawyer, Ken Njemanze, and Paul Erokoro, counsel to Aniagu Emmanuel, a respondent in the case.

The court said a date for the final judgment would be communicated to all parties.

Anyanwu was replaced by Sunday Udeh-Okoye following a decision by the PDP’s south-east zonal executive committee.

The move came after Anyanwu became the party’s governorship candidate in Imo state during the 2023 election.

Although Anyanwu secured multiple court injunctions to block his removal, the court of appeal overturned a previous high court ruling in December 2024 and affirmed Udeh-Okoye as the rightful national secretary. Unhappy with the decision, Anyanwu took the case to the supreme court.

At the hearing, Erokoro argued that Anyanwu’s attempt to reclaim the position violated the PDP constitution, adding that having resigned to contest another election, he (Anyanwu) should not return as national secretary.

Meanwhile, the PDP and its acting national chairman, Umar Damagun, did not file any arguments for or against Anyanwu’s appeal. However, a fourth respondent, Ali Odeifa, objected to the case.

The court also struck out Anyanwu’s request to stay the execution of the appeal court and high court rulings that removed him.

His lawyer withdrew the motion, saying it was done to allow the substantive appeal to proceed.