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Anyanwu: PDP has survived judicial rascality – Turaki *Party not for rascals
A triumphant Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, National Chairman, has a word for some trouble-makers within and outside – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is not a party for rascals and the unruly – it is a party for the disciplined and rule of law.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who emerged at the leadership of the main opposition group in Nigeria at its convention in November last year, spoke after the party coasted home to victory from the verdict of a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Tuesday.
Describing the victory, which finally nailed Sam Anyanwu, erstwhile National Secretary, forbidding him from laying claim to the position, one of the sources of the unending crisis within its fold, Turaki, said the decision had vindicated the PDP position over the leadership tussle.
He said: “It is a vindication for us in the PDP family. We’ve said time and time again that the decision of the Supreme Court is sacrosanct, and that our courts have no business meddling in matters that are purely political party matters.
“That is why, when some judges, who are judges of particular concern, have recently given judgments delving into issues they ordinarily should not delve into, and have given judgments that cannot be rationalised by whatever level of argument you want to advance, they are, if anything, trying to smear the name of the judiciary as an impartial institution, which is the last hope of the common man.
“The judgment of Justice Umar today has vindicated us in the PDP that, yes, we are the genuine leaders of the PDP; it has vindicated us that, yes, our convention was legitimately done.
“It has vindicated us that, indeed, people cannot just go into one corner and then begin to ascribe to themselves the leadership of a political party. This is not a market association, neither is it an association of shoe-shiners. This is a political party, and there must be discipline.”
Justice Mohammed Umar, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had on Tuesday, dismissed the suit a suit filed by Anyanwu seeking to restrain the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Umar Damagum, the PDP chairman at the time, from accepting, acting on, or giving effect to any correspondence from the party not signed by him.
When the case came up for hearing on Tuesday, Anyanwu’s lawyer said the matter had been overtaken by events and should not proceed.
“In the interest of justice, I apply to withdraw this matter to save the time of the court,” the lawyer said, adding that his client’s tenure as PDP’s national secretary expired in December 2025.
Akintayo Balogun, lawyer to INEC, who said the suit ought not to have been instituted in the first instance, while also joining in asking that the action, named FHC/ABJ/CS/254/2025, asked for a cost of N1 million.
In December, a faction of the PDP, backed by Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), dissolved the national working committee (NWC) and set up a caretaker panel, appointing Abdulrahman Mohammed as as the chairman, with Anyanwu as secretary, following the expiration of the tenure of the PDP NWC elected in October 2021.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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