The Supreme Court has overturned the decisions of both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, which had previously removed Senator Samuel Anyanwu from his position as the National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court ruled that the question of who holds the PDP National Secretary position falls under the party’s internal matters and is therefore not subject to judicial intervention.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Jamilu Tukur dismissed the October 2024 ruling of the trial court and nullified the Court of Appeal’s majority decision from December, which had upheld Anyanwu’s removal. Instead, the Supreme Court endorsed the minority ruling by Justice Ekanem, who had previously invalidated the trial court’s decision on the grounds of jurisdictional overreach.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court determined that the plaintiff, Aniagu Emmanuel, lacked the legal standing to initiate the case, as he failed to demonstrate how the PDP’s choice of National Secretary directly affected him.
