The Supreme Court, on Friday, nullified the judgments that removed Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, faulted the Court of Appeal and High Court in Enugu for dabbling into what it described as a domestic affair of a political party.
The high court had on the strength of a suit that was brought before it by a member of the PDP, Mr. Aniagu Emmanuel, removed Anyanwu as the national scribe of the party.
The decision of the trial court was subsequently upheld by the appellate court which recognised Chief Udeh-Okoye Enemchukwu as Senator Anyanwu’s replacement.
The appellate court held that Anyanwu’s continued stay in office as National Secretary was in breach of PDP’s Constitution, having contested and emerged as the party’s candidate in the governorship election that held in Imo State last year.
Dissatisfied with the judgements, Anyanwu approached the Supreme Court to set them aside.
Delivering its judgement in the matter on Friday, a five-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, held that the two lower courts were wrong to have meddled in an internal affair of the PDP.
It held that the party has its own dispute resolution mechanisms embedded in its constitution.
The apex court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Jamilu Tukur, stressed that the judiciary would only intervene, when a political party is accused of sidelining its own laws and regulations.
It held that it is not the duty of courts to involve itself in the leadership selection process of political parties but to ensure adherence to due process, equity, justice, fairness and the rule of law.
Besides, the Supreme Court noted that the plaintiff, Aniagu Emmanuel, whose substative suit led to Anyanwu’s removal, failed to establish his locus standi (legal right) to institute the action.
Consequently, it vacated the judgements of the two lower courts for want of jurisdiction to entertain the dispute sorrounding the office of a National Secretary in the PDP.
It will be recalled that the Board of Trustees, BOT, and the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PDP, had earlier endorsed Chief Udeh-Okoye as the National Secretary of the party, in line with the judgements the apex court vacated on Friday
Anyanwu had outrightly rejected the decisions of the BOT and NWC, insisting that the position was the subject of a pending litigation.
On his part, Chief Udeh-Okoye, in a recent process he filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, maintained that Senator Anyanwu had ceased to be the National Secretary of the PDP.
He told the court that though the Senator Anyanwu was elected at a National Convention the party held on October 30, 2021, for a four-year tenure, he, however, lost the position after he was nominated as candidate of the party for the governorship election that held in Imo State in 2023.
Chief Udeh-Okoye told the court that whereas Article 47(5) of the PDP Constitution requires any officer elected into the party’s Executive Committee at any level, to resign before running for any elective office, Article 47 (6) made provision for the appointment of someone from the same area or zone, to serve out the tenure of such officer.
According to him, following Senator Anyanwu’s refusal to vacate the office, the Board of Trustees of the PDP, in a letter dated October 12, 2023, drew the attention of the National Chairman of the party, Ambassador Umar Damagun, to the constitutional breach.
He said the South East zone Executives of the party, in a meeting held at Enugu on October 16, 2022, nominated him to serve out the residue of Senator Anyanwu’s remaining tenure in office.
Chief Udeh-Okoye told the court that the litigation that led to the concurrent judgements of the courts in Enugu, was a fallout of the meeting where he was nominated.
Justice Inyang Ekwo had fixed March 25 to hear the suit Senator Anyanwu filed to stay execution of the judgements the apex court nullified on Friday.
VANGUARD
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