Supreme Court Restores Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the PDP
Supreme Court Restores Samuel Anyanwu as National Secretary of the PDP
The Supreme Court has reinstated Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
In a unanimous ruling, a five-member panel of the court asserted that issues relating to the leadership and membership of a political party are internal matters and should not be subject to judicial scrutiny.
This ruling overturns a decision made by the Enugu Division of the Appeal Court, which upheld Anyanwu’s removal by a Federal High Court in Enugu. The Supreme Court found that the Federal High Court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the case brought by Aniagwu Emmanuel.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Jamilu Tukur noted that the specific circumstances required for the court to intervene in a political party’s internal matters were absent. The Court identified these exceptional situations as being either explicitly granted jurisdiction by the Nigerian Constitution or involving criminal acts or breaches of contractual rights.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court pointed out that the fact that Sunday Udeh Okoye was not included in the case meant that Aniagwu Emmanuel did not have the legal standing to initiate the matter in the Federal High Court in the first place.
