The Supreme Court of Nigeria has reserved judgment on the appeal filed by the suspended Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Anyanwu, who is challenging his removal from office.
Anyanwu is seeking to overturn the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Enugu, which upheld the Federal High Court’s decision to remove him as the PDP National Secretary.
Through his lawyer, Ken Njemanze (SAN), Anyanwu filed a ten-point appeal, asking the Supreme Court to set aside the lower court’s ruling.
The appeal, marked SC/CV/82/2025, lists Aniagu Emmanuel, the PDP, Iliya Damagun (National Chairman), and Ali Odefa (National Vice Chairman, Southeast Zone) as the respondents.
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Anyanwu is contesting the decision of the Court of Appeal, delivered on December 20, 2024, which affirmed the High Court ruling that removed him from office and recognized Sunday Udey-Okoye as the rightful PDP National Secretary.
Dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal’s majority ruling, Anyanwu approached the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment.
He argued that the appellate court erred by asserting jurisdiction over an internal PDP matter and contended that issues related to party leadership are non-justiciable, falling outside the jurisdiction of the courts.
Anyanwu also criticized the lower court for not addressing whether the plaintiff had followed the PDP constitution’s internal dispute resolution procedures before initiating the case.
He further argued that the court wrongly concluded that the plaintiff had the right to bring the case and questioned the lower court’s interpretation of Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022, which deals with resignation and removal from office.
Anyanwu pointed out that the PDP constitution specifies the procedures for vacating office, including removal or resignation, and emphasized that Article 47 of the constitution mandates a four-year single term for party officers, with no grounds to consider him as having vacated his position.
During the hearing, all parties except the PDP and Damagun presented their submissions.
The respondents urged the court to dismiss the appeal, with senior counsel Erokoro citing a previous case (Ali Modu Sheriff vs PDP) where the court ruled that internal party issues are beyond judicial jurisdiction.
Erokoro argued that Anyanwu had resigned, as the PDP constitution requires resignation for those seeking to contest elections.
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The Supreme Court questioned whether it had the authority to decide who should hold office within the party.
Njemanze, representing Anyanwu, argued that the lower courts lacked jurisdiction over the case as it concerned internal party matters.
The five-member panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Uwani Musa Abba-Aji, then reserved judgment, stating that the date for the judgment would be communicated to the parties.
Earlier, the Court struck out Anyanwu’s motion for a stay of execution.
The motion was withdrawn at the request of Njemanze, with no objections from the respondents. Justice Abba-Aji confirmed the withdrawal and strikeout of the motion.
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