Court Dismisses Anyanwu’s Suit Seeking INEC Recognition as PDP Secretary

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and others over the position of National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Justice Mohammed Umar struck out the case on Tuesday after Anyanwu’s lawyer, U.C. Njemanze-Aku, applied to withdraw the suit, citing that events had overtaken the matter.

Anyanwu, a former National Secretary of the PDP, had asked the court to compel INEC to recognise him as the party’s scribe. The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, initially listed INEC and the former Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun, as defendants.

In a ruling delivered on February 28, 2025, the court had joined the PDP and several members of its National Executive Committee as defendants, including Sunday Udeh-Okoye, Dr Ali Odefa and Setonji Koshoedo.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Njemanze-Aku informed the court that Anyanwu’s tenure as PDP National Secretary expired in December 2024, making the continuation of the case unnecessary. She said the application to withdraw the suit was made to avoid wasting the court’s time.

Counsel to INEC, Akintayo Balogun, opposed the withdrawal without sanctions, arguing that the suit should not have been filed in the first place. He urged the court to dismiss the case and award a cost of ₦1 million against the plaintiff, a position supported by lawyers to the other defendants.

Njemanze-Aku objected to the request for costs, maintaining that the withdrawal was made in good faith and in the interest of judicial efficiency.

In his ruling, Justice Umar dismissed the suit but declined to award costs. He held that none of the parties was responsible for the delay and that the circumstances surrounding the case justified a dismissal without penalties.

“The situation made it so,” the judge said. “For this reason, I award no cost.”