Olusegun Ariyo
The Supreme Court has dismissed the request brought before it by Samuel Anyanwu seeking to stay the execution of the judgment of the Court of Appeal that removed him as the National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
The apex court on Monday threw out the request when Anyanwu in a dramatic turn applied for withdrawal of the request.
Justice Musa Awani Aba-Aji dismissed the request when Kingsley Njemanze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, withdrew the request 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 to 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.
