The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed a suit filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, former factional National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), seeking recognition as the party’s authentic scribe.
Justice Mohammed Umar struck out the case after Anyanwu’s lawyer informed the court that his client’s tenure as PDP national secretary expired in December 2025, rendering the suit overtaken by events.
Anyanwu had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Umar Damagun, former acting National Chairman of the PDP, challenging the recognition of party correspondence not signed by him. He sought interim injunctions restraining INEC from accepting such documents and barring Damagun from forwarding PDP correspondence without his countersignature.
The court later joined the PDP, Sunday Udeh-Okoye, Dr Ali Odela and Mr Setonji Koshoedo as additional defendants.
When the matter was called, Anyanwu’s counsel, U.C. Njemanze-Aku, applied to withdraw the case, saying it was improper to proceed with a matter overtaken by circumstances. Lawyers to INEC and other defendants opposed a simple withdrawal and urged the court to dismiss the suit with costs of N1 million each.
Justice Umar, however, dismissed the suit without awarding costs, holding that the delay was not attributable to any of the parties. “The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost,” the judge ruled.
The dispute over the PDP national secretary position has dragged on since Anyanwu vacated the office to contest the 2023 Imo governorship election, which he lost. His bid to return to the position triggered protracted legal and internal party battles, with Udeh-Okoye emerging as a rival claimant.
Although earlier court decisions oscillated between the parties, the controversy persisted, culminating in the fresh Abuja suit now dismissed by the court.
• Source: Vanguard
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