The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an application brought before it by Samuel Anyanwu seeking to stay the execution of the judgment of the Court of Appeal that removed him as the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The panel of Justices of the apex court, headed by Justice Musa Awani Aba-Aji, dismissed the application following a dramatic withdrawal by Anyanwu, through his counsel, Kingsley Njemanze, SAN.
The Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal in Enugu had in concurrent judgments removed Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP.
However, at Monday’s proceedings, Anyanwu urged the Supreme Court to allow him to withdraw the bid to stop the execution of the judgments against him.
Meanwhile, hearing in the substantive matter is ongoing before the five-man panel of justices headed by Justice Aba-Aji.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu had last December upheld a Federal High Court decision that sacked Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the PDP.
The appellate court subsequently upheld Chief Sunday Ude-Okoye as the substantive National Secretary of the main 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.
According to the appellate court, the appellant violated the PDP constitution by laying claim to the national secretary position having contested and emerged as the party’s candidate in the 2024 governorship election in Imo State.
Dissatisfied, Anyanwu in February approached the apex 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 an accelerated hearing, as well as an abridgement of time on grounds of the crucial role of the office of national secretary.
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