The beleaguered National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Anyanwu, has maintained that he is the legitimate holder of the position.
Anyanwu made this assertion during his appearance on the current affairs program ‘Nigeria Right Now,’ hosted by Dickson Iroegbu.
Notably, the PDP is facing a new crisis, as both Anyanwu and Sunday Ude-Okoye, a prominent party member, are claiming the position of national secretary.
In December, the Court of Appeal ruled that Ude-Okoye should succeed Anyanwu as the national secretary of the PDP.
It is important to remember that the south-east zonal executive committee of the party had nominated Ude-Okoye to take over from Anyanwu after he became the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Imo in 2023.
Anyanwu reportedly secured multiple court injunctions to prevent his removal from the position.
Nevertheless, in a ruling delivered on December 20, 2024, the Appeal Court judge, Ridwan Abdullahi, dismissed the high court’s decision that had barred Anyanwu’s removal, citing a lack of merit.
In the aftermath of this ruling, Ude-Okoye has been presenting himself as the national secretary of the party.
In response, Anyanwu stated that he has appealed the judgment and filed for a stay of execution at the Supreme Court on the same day the Appeal Court issued its decision in favor of Ude-Okoye.
“As we speak today, I’m still the national secretary of PDP. The reason is that on the 20th of December, there was a court judgment from the appeal court of Enugu affirming the judgment of the state high court of Enugu.
“Before then, I had a federal high court judgment which affirmed my position. If you remember, sometime in 2023 before the election, precisely on the 10th of November 2023, there was a state high court judgment which said I should have resigned before vying for the office of the governor.
“Then I went to the federal high court here in Abuja, which confirmed my position that as long as I was elected by convention, my position is sacrosanct until the 9th of December 2025, when my position will officially end,” the politician stated.
