Court Restrains PDP From Removing National Secretary Iwunyanwu

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has restrained the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from removing its National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, or in any manner tampering with the powers and functions of his office till he completes his tenure.

The judgment was delivered on Tuesday in a suit filed by Hon. Geoffrey Ihentuge and Hon. Apollos Godspower in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1580/2023.

Respondents in the case were the PDP, Umar Aliyu Damagun (Acting National Chairman), National Executive Committee Of the PDP, National Working Committee of the PDP, and the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC)(as 1st to fifth).

The plaintiff’s lawyer, J. Y. Musa, asked Justice Inyang Ekwo to determine whether an elected national officer like the PDP National Secretary can be arbitrarily removed from office or prevented from exercising his powers and performing the functions of his office under Article 36 (1) of the Constitution by the party

He urged the court to among other reliefs restrain the party and declare that every national officer of the PDP elected under Articles 47 and 49 of the Constitution of the PDP (as amended in 2017) is entitled to serve out his/her tenure of four years as provided by Article 47 (1) of the said Constitution.

But the defendants except INEC told the court that the developments within the part were in order.

In his judgment on Tuesday, Ekwo observed that the deputy national secretary cannot legitimately act when the national secretary is not incapacitated either by absence or otherwise.

Ekwo disagreed with the 1st to 4th defendants’ claim that there was no threat by them to remove or declare the office of the national secretary of the party vacant.

“The action of the 1st – 4th Defendants by not providing evidence that the National Secretary has resumed his duties, strikes a great blow on their case before this Court.

“In order to effectively controvert the case of the Plaintiffs, the burden which has shifted to the 1 – 4th defendants to effectively controvert the case of the Plaintiffs and ought to have been successfully discharged it by demonstrating with concrete evidence that the National Secretary has since resumed office after the annual leave which ended on 24th May, 2023.,” Ekwo held.

Ekwo said by the facts of the case, the plaintiffs have established their case by demonstrating that there is a threat and move by the party to declare the office of the National Secretary vacant which was zoned to the geo-political zone of the Plaintiffs and the issue of zoning is a constitutional matter by virtue of S. 233 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution(as amended).

He said the plaintiffs have demonstrated that the tenure of office of Anyanwu is guaranteed by Article 47 (1) of the PDP constitution and ought not to be tampered with without compliance with its constitution.

Ekwo subsequently restrained the party, their privies, agents, and servants from carrying out the threat to remove the National Secretary (Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu) from his office.

“An Order of Injunction is hereby made restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants, their privies, agents, servants howsoever described from preventing the National Secretary of the 1st Defendant (Senator Samuel Anyanwu) in the discharge of the powers and functions of his office as an elected National Officer as contained in Article 36 (1) of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (as amended in 2017).

“An Order of Injunction is hereby made restraining the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th defendants, their privies, agents, servants howsoever described from appointing any person as acting National Secretary of the 1st defendant when the tenure of the substantive National Secretary (Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu) is still running and subsisting until 9th December, 2025.

“An Order of Injunction is hereby made restraining the 5th defendant, its privies, agents, servants howsoever described from recognizing any purported appointment of any person as National Secretary of the 1st Defendant whether in acting capacity or otherwise other than Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu, the elected National Secretary of the 1t Defendant whose tenure of four (4) years is still running and subsisting until 4th December, 2025.

“A declaration is hereby made that the 5th defendant cannot take cognizance of any illegal removal of any elected National Officer or any illegal appointment of any person to act in his stead, including the office of the National Secretary of the 1st Defendant in violation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (as amended in 2017) and Section 223 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended),” Ekwo also declared.