The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed September 22 as the date for the main hearing in the legal dispute over who is the rightful National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The case was filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who claims he is the duly elected National Secretary of the PDP. In his suit, Anyanwu named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, as the first and second defendants.
In an ex parte application dated February 13, 2025, and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, Anyanwu, through his legal counsel Ken Njemanze (SAN), asked the court to stop INEC from recognizing or acting on any documents from the PDP that were not signed by him.
He also asked that Damagun be restrained from submitting any letters to INEC on behalf of the party without his signature.
However, the court refused to issue an immediate order based on the ex parte application, saying it was important to hear from all sides before making a decision.
Later on, the PDP, along with Mr. Udeh-Okoye, asked the court to be included in the case. Their request was granted, and they were added as the third and fourth defendants.
Two more PDP officials—Ali Odela, the party’s South-East Vice Chairman, and Setonji Koshoedo, the Deputy National Secretary—were also added as the fifth and sixth defendants.
Initially, Justice Inyang Ekwo was handling the matter and had set March 25 as the date for judgment. But before that could happen, Anyanwu filed another application asking to make changes to his original claims in the suit. Because of that, the case was moved to May 19, but that hearing was also delayed.
Eventually, the case was transferred to a new judge, Justice Mohammed Umar. During the resumed session on Thursday, Justice Umar held his first hearing on the matter. After listening to all parties, he scheduled a firm date of September 22 to hear all pending motions and objections.
At the hearing, Anyanwu was represented by U.C. Njemanze-Aku, while Udeh-Okoye was represented by Paul Erokoro (SAN), and the PDP had Paul-Harris Ogbole (SAN) as its legal counsel.
Njemanze-Aku told the court that they had received a letter from the fifth defendant asking for an adjournment until September. She said, “My Lord, the matter is for mention today.
We have received an e-letter of adjournment written to this court by the fifth defendant.” While they did not oppose the delay, she asked if the court could choose a closer date, preferably in July.
Lawyers for the other parties agreed that a July date would be better. But Erokoro pointed out that the Supreme Court had already ruled on a similar issue, deciding that such matters fall under the internal workings of political parties.
He said, “The same plaintiff who argued that the court has no jurisdiction is now the one who brought us here.”
Justice Umar then asked all sides to file their replies to Anyanwu’s motion. Since no suitable date was found in July that worked for the court and all parties involved, the matter was postponed to September 22, when all issues will be heard together.
