The Supreme Court on Friday reinstated Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), overturning earlier rulings by two lower courts that removed him from the position.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, the apex court vacated the judgments of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu, which had previously declared Anyanwu’s removal valid.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Jamilu Tukur ruled that the two lower courts lacked jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of a political party, which he described as non-justiciable.
The Supreme Court panel upheld the minority judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had nullified the earlier decision of the trial court on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction.
Furthermore, the court ruled that Mr. Aniagu Emmanuel, the plaintiff whose suit led to Anyanwu’s removal, lacked the locus standi (legal right) to initiate the action in the first place.
“The plaintiff failed to establish how he was directly affected by who occupied the office of the National Secretary of PDP,” the court noted.
The Court of Appeal had in December 2024 upheld the Federal High Court’s ruling, which removed Anyanwu and recognized Chief Udeh-Okoye Enemchukwu as the PDP’s authentic national secretary.
In that ruling, Justice Ridwan Abdullahi dismissed Anyanwu’s appeal as incompetent and lacking merit, citing his breach of the PDP Constitution by remaining in office while contesting the party’s 2023 governorship election in Imo State.
Dissatisfied with those rulings, Senator Anyanwu filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, accompanied by a motion for accelerated hearing, arguing that the role of the National Secretary is crucial to the party’s affairs.
It is worth noting that both the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP had earlier endorsed Chief Okoye as the National Secretary in line with the lower court decisions.
Anyanwu had rejected those decisions, insisting that the matter was sub judice (subject to ongoing litigation).
