The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday 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 after it was established that Anyanwu’s tenure as PDP National Secretary had elapsed in December 2025, thereby rendering the matter academic.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, was originally filed against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Umar Damagun, former Acting National Chairman of the PDP, listed as the first and second defendants.
In an ex-parte application dated and filed on February 13, 2025, through his counsel, Ken Njemanze, Anyanwu sought two interim reliefs.
He requested an order restraining INEC from recognising or acting on any PDP correspondence not signed by him, pending the determination of a motion for interlocutory injunction.
He also asked the court to bar Damagun from forwarding to INEC any PDP correspondence signed solely by the acting chairman and not countersigned by him.
However, on February 28, 2025, the court expanded the list of parties by joining the PDP and Sunday Udeh-Okoye as third and fourth defendants.
Justice Umar also added Dr Ali Odela and Mr Setonji Koshoedo as fifth and sixth defendants respectively.
Odela was identified as the PDP’s National Vice Chairman (South-East), while Koshoedo was described as the party’s Deputy National Secretary.
When the case was called, U.C. Njemanze-Aku, who appeared for Anyanwu, informed the court that his client’s tenure as PDP National Secretary had expired in December 2025.
He noted that the circumstances had overtaken the suit.
“In the interest of justice, I apply to withdraw this matter to save the time of the court,” he said.
Responding, INEC’s counsel, Akintayo Balogun, argued that the suit “ought not to have been instituted in the first place.”
He urged the court to dismiss the matter and award costs, requesting N1 million.
Counsel to Damagun, M. O. Akpan, aligned with Balogun’s position.
Ugochukwu Okanu, who represented the fourth defendant, also supported the call for costs and requested one million naira.
Similarly, counsel to the sixth defendant, J. A. Musa, raised no objection to the withdrawal but asked for N1 million as cost.
Opposing the requests, Njemanze-Aku objected to the award of costs against the plaintiff, arguing that the withdrawal was necessitated by developments 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 further argued that “it is not fair to penalise the plaintiff,” urging the court to direct all parties to bear their respective costs.
After hearing submissions from all parties, Justice Umar dismissed the suit without awarding costs.
“Since you have joined issues, I am going to dismiss this matter.
“The matter is hereby dismissed,” he ruled.
On the issue of costs, the judge added: “The delay is not on any of the parties. The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost.”
The dispute over the PDP National Secretary position began after Anyanwu vacated the office to contest the 2023 Imo State governorship election, which he lost.
His subsequent attempt to return to the position sparked internal party tension, with Sunday Udeh-Okoye laying claim to the seat.
On December 20, 2024, the Court of Appeal in Enugu affirmed an earlier ruling of the Federal High Court, which removed Anyanwu and recognised Udeh-Okoye as the party’s authentic National Secretary.
Anyanwu challenged the judgment by filing for a stay of execution and proceeding to the Supreme Court.
In March 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the decisions of both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, reinstating Anyanwu.
Despite the apex court’s ruling, leadership disputes persisted within the PDP, with rival factions asserting control at the national secretariat.
To resolve the lingering uncertainty, Anyanwu instituted a fresh suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking enforcement of his position and related declaratory reliefs.
In November 2025, the court granted his application to amend the originating summons.
Justice Umar allowed the amendment but awarded a cost of N30,000 against the plaintiff in favour of each defendant and adjourned the matter to January 20 for hearing.
