The Supreme Court has set March 10 for the hearing of Senator Samuel Anyanwu’s appeal contesting his ousting as the National Secretary of the People Democratic Party (PDP), as announced yesterday.
The decision was made by a five-member panel led by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa during the ruling on Anyanwu’s motion for expedited consideration.
Last December, the Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu upheld a High Court decision that sacked Samuel Anyanwu as PDP national secretary.
The lower court upheld Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the substantive national secretary of the 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.
The appellate court held that the appellant violated the PDP constitution by laying claim to the national secretary position, having contested and picked as the party’s candidate in the 2024 governorship election in Imo State.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Anyanwu approached the apex court last month and asked the court to set aside the judgment of the two lower courts and recognise 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.
Delivering ruling in the motion, the Supreme Court granted the relief sought and ordered service of the court processes on the respondent, Mr. Aniagu Emmanuel, who the court said, must file in his reply brief within three days of service.
Anyanwu, on the other hand was given two days to reply on point of law.
But the apex court did not hear Anyanwu’s motion for stay of execution of the judgment of the appellate court was not heard by the apex court.