The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal submitted by Samuel Anyanwu, who sought to halt the enforcement of the Court of Appeal’s ruling that ousted him from his position as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). On Monday, the highest court dismissed the appeal after Anyanwu in a dramatic turn applied for withdrawal of the request. Justice Musa Awani Aba-Aji formally dismissed the appeal following the withdrawal made by Kingsley Njemanze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria on behalf of his client.

The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu had in concurrent judgments removed Anyanwu as PDP National Secretary.
However, at Monday’s proceedings, Anyanwu backed down, urging the Supreme Court to allow him withdraw the bid to stop the execution of the judgments against.
Meanwhile, hearing in the substantive matter is going on before the five-man panel of justices headed by Justice Aba-Aji.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu had last December upheld a Federal High Court decision that sacked Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP.

The appellate court subsequently upheld Chief Sunday Ude-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary of the main opposition party.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Ridwan Abdullahi, the Court of Appeal held that Anyanwu‘s appeal was incompetent and lacking in merit.

According to the appellate court, the appellant violated the PDP constitution by laying claim to the national secretary position having contested and emerged as the party’s candidate in the 2024 governorship election in Imo State.

Dissatisfied, Anyanwu in February approached the apex court to set aside the judgment of the two lower courts, and recognize him as the authentic National Secretary of the PDP.
He also filed a motion for accelerated hearing, as well as an abridgment of time on grounds of the crucial role of the office of national secretary.