Ogbeide Associates, Solicitors and Counsel, holding brief for the factional Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, requesting an investigation into the party’s Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, and factional National Chairman, Hon. Abdulrahman Mohammed, over a letter dated November 3, 2025, addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The petition alleges that the letter falsely claimed the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) had suspended Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagum as Acting National Chairman and appointed Mohammed in his place.
According to the petition, the NWC’s 608th Emergency Meeting of November 1, 2025, held barely 48 hours before the letter was written, resolved to suspend Anyanwu himself, along with three other officers, over allegations of anti-party activities.
The petition stated that no NWC resolution, minutes, or attendance record has been produced showing that the committee ever resolved to suspend Ambassador Damagum or appoint Mohammed.
The petition further noted that the official attendance record of the 608th meeting shows that Anyanwu was absent, while Mohammed was present at the meeting.
It noted that Mohammed had direct, firsthand knowledge of the meeting’s actual outcome before the disputed letter was sent.
The petition also draws attention to a subsisting Federal High Court judgment of October 10, 2024 (Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/579/2024), which recognised Ambassador Damagum as Acting National Chairman and restrained INEC from acting on any document not bearing his signature—a judgment Senator Anyanwu himself had forwarded to INEC for compliance in November 2024.
The petition notes that the Court of Appeal, on March 9, 2026, affirmed the NWC’s suspension of Senator Anyanwu.
In addition to seeking an investigation of the two named individuals, the petition asks the Inspector-General to examine how INEC handled the November 3 letter, given that the commission was already in possession of both the subsisting court judgment and the NWC’s suspension resolution at the time.
“This petition is not about personalities. It is about whether public institutions can be misled with documents that do not reflect the true position of internal party processes, and whether such conduct will be investigated as the law requires,” counsel for the petitioner said.
The lawyers called on the Nigeria Police Force to treat the matter with urgency, while indicating that the petitioner stands ready to provide all supporting documentation, including the relevant court judgments and internal party records, to assist in the investigation.
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