The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu challenging his removal as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Justice M. G. Umar, in a ruling delivered on Tuesday, struck out the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, in which Anyanwu sought court orders to affirm his continued stay in office and restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising any correspondence from the PDP that did not bear his signature.
The senator had approached the court following a previous Supreme Court judgment which held that his continued stay in office was an internal affair of the party. In the fresh suit, he asked the court to grant an injunction preventing his removal and to bar INEC from dealing with the PDP leadership unless he was recognised as National Secretary.
However, Justice Umar dismissed the claims, citing lack of jurisdiction and abuse of court process.
In his ruling, the judge reaffirmed the long-standing position of Nigerian courts that issues relating to the internal leadership and administration of political parties are non-justiciable. He noted that the judiciary is barred from interfering in how political parties select or remove their officers, a principle consistently upheld by the Supreme Court.
The court also held that the action amounted to an abuse of court process, observing that several suits on the same subject matter were already pending or had been decided at different levels of the judiciary, including the High Courts, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.
Justice Umar further ruled that Anyanwu’s tenure had elapsed, stating that the senator was elected as PDP National Secretary in 2021 and could not lawfully remain in office beyond the term for which he was elected.
The matter had earlier experienced procedural delays, including a transfer from the court of suspended Justice Inyang Ekwo to Justice Umar.
Despite prolonged legal battles by Anyanwu, who maintained that his tenure would expire in December 2025, he was among several party leaders expelled during the PDP’s National Convention held in Ibadan in November 2025.
The PDP is currently being led by the Kabiru Tanimu Turaki-led National Working Committee (NWC), which emerged from the Ibadan convention and is recognised by the party.
