The long-running leadership tussle within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took another turn on Tuesday as the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a fresh suit filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu over the position of the party’s National Secretary.
The case was struck out after Anyanwu applied to withdraw the suit, citing developments that had rendered the matter irrelevant. His lawyer, U. C. Njemanze-Aku, told the court that continuing with the case would be unnecessary and a waste of judicial time.
“We do not believe it is proper to proceed with a matter that has been overtaken by events. In the interest of justice, we respectfully apply to withdraw this suit,” he said.
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 reclaim the position afterward triggered deep internal divisions within the party, leading to the emergence of Sunday Udeh-Okoye as a rival claimant.
On December 20, 2024, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court that removed Anyanwu and affirmed Udeh-Okoye as the party’s authentic National Secretary. Anyanwu challenged the ruling at the Supreme Court and sought a stay of execution.
In March 2025, the Supreme Court overturned the judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court that had removed Anyanwu. However, despite the apex court’s ruling, the leadership dispute persisted, with different factions laying claim to authority at the PDP national secretariat.
In a bid to enforce his position and resolve the uncertainty, Anyanwu filed a fresh suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Although the court granted his application to amend the originating summons in November 2025, awarding N30,000 in costs to each defendant, the matter was later adjourned to January 20, 2026, for hearing.
When the case came up on Tuesday, Anyanwu opted to withdraw the suit, effectively bringing the prolonged legal battle to an end.
Reacting, counsel to the second defendant, Akintayo Balogun, argued that the suit should never have been filed and urged the court to dismiss it with costs, demanding N1 million. Other defence lawyers aligned with this position, requesting costs ranging from N1 million to N1.5 million.
However, Anyanwu’s lawyer countered that the withdrawal was not a voluntary abandonment of the case but a decision forced by circumstances beyond the plaintiff’s control. He appealed to the court to allow all parties to bear their own costs.
In his ruling, the presiding judge dismissed the suit and declined all requests for costs.
“Since parties have joined issues, the matter is hereby dismissed,” the judge ruled, adding that no party was responsible for the delay. “The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost.”
The decision closes another chapter in the PDP’s protracted internal crisis over its national secretariat leadership.
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