The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu in which he asked the court to recognise him as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Justice Mohammed Umar threw out the case after Anyanwu’s lawyer told the court that his client’s tenure in the office ended in December 2025, making the dispute no longer useful for the court to continue with.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, Anyanwu had listed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Umar Damagum, a former acting National Chairman of the PDP, as defendants. The case later expanded to include the PDP itself, Sunday Udeh-Okoye, Dr Ali Odela and Setonji Koshoedo.
Court papers show that Anyanwu had asked for temporary orders to stop INEC from accepting or acting on PDP letters that were not signed by him, and to stop Damagum from sending any party correspondence to INEC without his countersignature.
When the matter came up on Tuesday, Anyanwu’s lawyer asked to withdraw the case, saying, “In the interest of justice, I apply to withdraw this matter to save the time of the court.”
Lawyers to the defendants opposed a simple withdrawal and asked the court to dismiss the suit and award costs of ₦1,000,000. Anyanwu’s counsel objected, arguing that the withdrawal was based on events they did not control and that both sides should bear their own legal costs.
After listening to both sides, Justice Umar dismissed the suit and refused to award costs, saying the delay was not caused by either party and that the situation led to the outcome.
The legal fight over the PDP National Secretary position has dragged on since Anyanwu left the role to contest the 2023 Imo State governorship election, which he lost, and later moved to return to the position amid resistance within the party.
Earlier court decisions also fuelled the dispute. On Friday, 20 December 2024, the Court of Appeal in Enugu upheld a judgment that removed Anyanwu and affirmed Udeh-Okoye, before the Supreme Court later set aside those rulings in March 2025 and said the matter largely fell within a party’s internal affairs, even as PDP factions continued to disagree on who should hold the office.
In this Abuja case, the court had previously allowed Anyanwu to amend his filings in November 2025, awarding ₦30,000 costs against him for each defendant, and fixed Tuesday, 20 January 2026 for hearing. The case has now been dismissed.