Court Orders Damagum To Swear In Udeh-Okoye As National Secretary Of PDP

A Federal High Court sitting in Enugu has again ordered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to swear in Hon. Udeh-Okoye as National Secretary of the party, but this time in a judgement of the substantive suit.

In a judgment obtained by SaharaReporters the court held that the suit was not an abuse of the court process.

That the plaintiff had locus standi to institute the case and that the suit was justiciable as it was only the 3rd defendant (Samuel Anyanwu) that was trying to make the 1st defendant (PDP) appear as a lawless entity.

The court thereby  ordered that the 3rd defendant in the suit Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu cannot by stipulations of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended, the PDP constitution, and the election guidelines of PDP, be the National Secretary of PDP and the same time be its gubernatorial candidate in the Imo State governorship election.

That by doing so, he made himself an emperor that was both judge and contestant in the PDP gubernatorial primary. 

That Anyanwu ceased being the National Secretary of PDP the moment he became its gubernatorial flag bearer in Imo State, and that his replacement with Hon. Udeh-Okoye by the PDP South East Zonal Executive Committee was in conformity with the dictates of the PDP constitution.

SaharaReporters had reported how Umar Damagum-led PDP has consistently disobeyed court orders.

The court had on October 20, 2023, ruled and ordered the National Working Committee  (NWC) to acknowledge Hon. SKE Udeh-Okoye as the PDP National Secretary, as nominated by the PDP South East Zonal Executive Committee.

On November 7, 2023, the Enugu High Court again reaffirmed its prior order and specified as follows; 

The interim order compelling PDP to recognize Hon. SKE Udeh-Okoye as the valid National Secretary remains in force until the hearing of the motion on notice on November 27, 2023, or the determination of the Appeal in the appellate court, whichever occurs first.

The plaintiff is granted permission to serve all court orders and processes on PDP and Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu through their counsels.

The substantive suit has now been heard and the court delivered judgement in favor of the plaintiff.