By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the fresh suit filed by a factional National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Anyanwu, after he applied to withdraw the matter.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Tuesday, January 20, Anyanwu’s lawyer, U. C. Njemanze-Aku, told the court that the suit had been overtaken by events, necessitating its withdrawal.
The matter relates to the dispute over the office of the PDP National Secretary, which began when Anyanwu vacated the office to contest the 2023 Imo State governorship election, which he lost.
His decision to reclaim the position thereafter sparked internal crises within the party, with Sunday Udeh-Okoye emerging as a rival.
The Court of Appeal in Enugu, on December 20, 2024, upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court, which removed Anyanwu and affirmed Udeh-Okoye as the authentic National Secretary of the PDP.
Anyanwu subsequently filed for a stay of execution and appealed to the Supreme Court, which in March 2025 overturned the decisions of both the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court that had sacked Anyanwu.
Despite the ruling of the apex court, the leadership tussle lingered, with different factions laying claimS to authority at the PDP national secretariat.
Anyanwu later filed a fresh suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja in an effort to resolve the legal uncertainty and sought the enforcement of his position and related reliefs.
In November 2025, the court granted his application to amend the originating summons, but awarded a cost of N30,000 against him in favour of each of the defendants and adjourned the matter until January 20, 2026, for hearing.
However, when the case was called for a hearing, Anyanwu, through his lawyer, opted to withdraw the suit, bringing the prolonged legal battle to an end.
In his response, counsel for the second defendant, Akintayo Balogun, argued that “the suit ought not to have been instituted in the first place.”
He urged the court to dismiss it with costs, as the application for costs was still subsisting, and requested N1 million.
Counsels for the third defendant, M. O. Akpan, said he had no objection and aligned his argument with that of the second defendant, while asking for N1.5 million as costs.
Ugochukwu Okanu and J.A. Musa, who appeared for the fourth and sixth defendants, respectively, also aligned with the submissions of the second defendant and requested N1 million each as costs.
However, Njemanze-Aku argued that the withdrawal was not a voluntary discontinuation but was due to circumstances beyond the plaintiff’s control.
In his ruling, the judge dismissed the suit, saying, “Since you have joined issues, I am going to dismiss this matter. The matter is hereby dismissed.”
On the issue of costs, the judge declined all the requests, stating, “The delay is not on any of the parties. The situation made it so. For this reason, I award no cost.”
