The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, a factional National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking official recognition as the party’s scribe.
Justice Mohammed Umar struck out the suit on Tuesday after it was established that Anyanwu’s tenure as PDP National Secretary expired in December 2025, thereby rendering the case academic.
Anyanwu had instituted the suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Umar Damagun, former Acting National Chairman of the PDP. He later sought interim orders restraining INEC from recognising any PDP correspondence not signed by him and stopping Damagun from forwarding party communications to INEC without his countersignature.
The court subsequently joined the PDP, Sunday Udeh-Okoye, the party’s National Vice Chairman (South-East), Dr Ali Odela, and the Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, as additional defendants.
When the matter came up for hearing, counsel to Anyanwu informed the court that his client’s tenure had elapsed, adding that events had overtaken the suit. He applied to withdraw the case in the interest of justice.
Counsel to INEC and other defendants opposed a simple withdrawal, urging the court to dismiss the suit and award costs against the plaintiff. However, Anyanwu’s counsel argued that the withdrawal was necessitated by circumstances beyond his client’s control and urged the court to order all parties to bear their respective costs.
In his ruling, Justice Umar dismissed the suit and declined to award costs, holding that none of the parties was responsible for the delay or change in circumstances.
“The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost,” the judge ruled.
The dispute over the PDP National Secretary position dates back to when Anyanwu vacated the office to contest the 2023 Imo State governorship election, which he lost. His attempt to return to the position triggered internal party conflict, with Sunday Udeh-Okoye also laying claim to the seat.
Although the Supreme Court in March 2025 reinstated Anyanwu after overturning earlier judgments that favoured Udeh-Okoye, leadership disputes persisted within the party, prompting the fresh suit that has now been dismissed.
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