The Federal High Court in Abuja has rescheduled the hearing on the dispute concerning the rightful National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to 22 September.
Justice Mohammed Umar fixed the new date for a definite hearing after parties involved in the case agreed to the postponement.
The matter appeared before Justice Umar for the first time, although it had previously been handled by Justice Inyang Ekwo, who was set to deliver judgment before the plaintiff, Samuel Anyanwu, applied to amend his initial filing.
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Mr Anyanwu, the embattled PDP National Secretary, originally filed the suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP’s Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, listed as the first and second defendants.
Through his lawyer, Ken Njemanze, Mr Anyanwu had requested an interim order restraining INEC from recognising any PDP documents not signed by him until a decision was reached on his motion for an interlocutory injunction.
He also sought to prevent Mr Damagun from submitting any correspondence to INEC not co-signed by him.
Justice Ekwo initially set 25 March for judgment, but on that day, Anyanwu submitted a fresh application to amend the originating process to clarify the issues under contention.
Following this, the court scheduled a hearing for 19 May, which was subsequently contested by other parties.
Additional parties later joined the suit, including the PDP as the third defendant, Udeh-Okoye as the fourth, Ali Odela, the PDP National Vice Chairman (South-East), as the fifth, and the party’s Deputy National Secretary, Setonji Koshoedo, as the sixth defendant.
The case was eventually reassigned to Justice Umar for continuation.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Mr Anyanwu’s counsel, U. C. Njemanze-Aku, informed the court that the matter was initially set for mention, but a letter had been received from the fifth defendant requesting that the hearing be moved to September.
Although Mr Anyanwu’s legal team preferred an earlier date, they did not object to the adjournment.
Lawyers representing the other parties also agreed with the request.
Paul Erokoro, counsel for Udeh-Okoye, informed the court that the issue had already been addressed by the Supreme Court, which ruled that such matters were strictly internal to political parties.
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He said he planned to file an application to formally present the Supreme Court’s decision as part of the proceedings.
In response, Justice Umar instructed all parties to file their responses to Mr Anyanwu’s application for amendment, noting that the application and all objections would be heard together on 22 September.
