Leadership crisis: Court dismisses Sen. Anyanwu’s suit against INEC, others

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, dismissed a suit filed by Sen. Samuel Anyanwu, the former factional National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking recognition as the party’s scribe.

Judge Mohammed Umar dismissed the suit following the expiration of Anyanwu’s tenure as secretary of the party in December 2025.

Supreme news reports that Anyanwu, in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, had originally sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Umar Damagun, the former acting National Chairman of PDP, as 1st and 2nd defendants.

In the ex-parte motion dated and filed on Feb. 13, 2025, by his lawyer, Ken Njemanze, Anyanwu sought two prayers.

He had sought an order of interim injunction, restraining INEC from accepting, acting on or giving effect to any correspondence from the PDP not signed by him pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.

He also sought an order of interim injunction restraining Damagun from dispatching to INEC any correspondence purportedly emanating from PDP signed by the acting chair and not counter signed by him.

However, the court had, on Feb. 28, 2025, joined the PDP and Sunday Udeh-Okoye in the suit as 3rd and 4th defendants.

The judge equally joined Dr Ali Odela and Mr Setonji Koshoedo as 5th and 6th defendants respectively.

While Odela was said to be the national vice chairman, PDP’s South East; Koshoedo was said to be the deputy national secretary of the party.

When the case as called, U.C. Njemanze‑Aku, who appeared for Anyanwu, told the court that his client’s tenure as the PDP secretary expired in December last year.

The lawyer said he felt it was improper for a matter that had been overtaken by events to continue.

“In the interest of justice, I apply to withdraw this matter to save the time of the court,” he said.

Responding, Akintayo Balogun, lawyer for INEC, said the suit “ought not to have been instituted in the first place.”

Balogun, therefore, prayed the court to dismiss it with costs.

He asked for a N1 million naira cost.

M. O. Akpan, counsel for Damagun aligned with Balogun’s submission, while Ugochukwu Okanu, representing the 4th defendant, also aligned and requested one million naira.

Also 6th defendant’s lawyer, J. A. Musa, did not objection to the application but sought a N1 million cost.

However, Njemanze-Aku frowned at the positions of the defence and objected to awarding costs in favour of the defendants.

He insisted that the withdrawal was due to circumstances beyond their control.

“We owe a duty to the court, and to avoid wasting it’s time, we decided to withdraw the case,” he said.

He added that “it is not fair to penalise the plaintiff,” and urged the court to allow the parties to bear their own costs.

Judge Umar, after taking their arguments, dismissed the suit without awarding any cost.

“Since you have joined issues, I am going to dismiss this matter.

“The matter is hereby dismissed,” he ruled.

On costs, the judge held: “The delay is not on any of the parties. The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost.”

It would be recalled that the crisis over the PDP national secretary position began when Anyanwu vacated the role to contest the 2023 Imo governorship election, which he lost.

Following his defeat, efforts to reclaim his position as secretary led to internal conflict in the party, with Udeh‑Okoye emerging as a contender for the seat.

On Dec. 20, 2024, the Court of Appeal in Enugu upheld an earlier decision of the Federal High Court, which removed Anyanwu and affirmed Udeh‑Okoye as the authentic secretary.

However, Anyanwu swiftly filed for a stay of execution and subsequently appealed the decision at the Supreme Court.

In March 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court sacking Anyanwu as the national secretary of the PDP.

After the Supreme Court’s decision, the leadership dispute did not immediately end, with different factions continuing to assert authority within the PDP’s national secretariat.

To address lingering legal uncertainty, Anyanwu subsequently filed a fresh suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking enforcement of his position and related declarations.

In November 2025, the Federal High Court granted him an application seeking to amend the originating summons he filed in the suit.

Justice Umar allowed the amendment of the plaintiff’s application, but awarded a cost of N30,000 to be paid by the plaintiff to each of the defendants, and adjourned the matter until Jan. 20 for hearing.