The Supreme Court on Monday reserved judgment in an appeal filed by Sen. Samuel Anyanwu seeking to nullify his removal as the National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The apex court reserved the judgment after taking arguments from Anyanwu’s lawyer, Kingsley Njemanze, SAN, and Paul Erokoro, SAN, who stood for Aniagu Emmanuel.
Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, who led the five-man panel of justices that heard the matter, said that the date for the judgment delivery would be communicated to all parties when ready.
Anyanwu, who was removed from office on account of his resignation to contest the last Imo governorship election, which he lost, had sued the PDP leadership for blocking him from continuing to remain in office having lost his gubernatorial ambition.
He urged the court to void and set aside the judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeals in Enugu, which had in their concurrent judgments removed him as PDP National Secretary.
He insisted that, having lost his gubernatorial adventure, he should be allowed to stage a comeback to retain the same office he resigned from.
However, counsel to Emmanuel Aniagu told the justices that Anyanwu’s prayer violated the Constitution of the PDP, adding that having resigned as the National Secretary to contest another election, he cannot be allowed to return to the office.
PDP and Amb. Illiya Damagun, who are the 2nd and 3rd respondents in the appeal, did not file any process for or against Anyanwu’s suit.
However, the 4th respondent, Ali Odeifa, objected to the request of Anyanwu’s bid to return to the office of the National Secretary.
Odeifa, who was represented by lawyer Okwudili Anozie, urged the apex court to dismiss Anyawu’s suit for being frivolous, baseless, and lacking in merit.
Earlier, the court had dismissed the request brought before it by Anyanwu seeking to stay the execution of the judgments of the Court of Appeal and that of the Federal High Court that removed him as the National Secretary of PDP.
The apex court threw out the request when Anyanwu, in a dramatic turn, applied for withdrawal of the request.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu had last December upheld a High Court decision that sacked Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP.
The appellate court subsequently upheld Chief Sunday Ude-Okoye as the substantive national secretary of the main opposition party.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Ridwan Abdullahi, the Court of Appeal held that Anyanwu‘s appeal was incompetent and lacking in merit.
According to the appellate court, the appellant violated the PDP’s constitution by laying claim to the National Secretary position, having contested and emerged as the PDP candidate in the 2024 governorship election in Imo State.
Dissatisfied, Anyanwu in February approached the apex court to set aside the judgment of the two lower courts and recognize him as the authentic national secretary of the PDP. (NAN)
