PDP vs APC: Court Picks Date To Decide Ben Ayade’s Fate As Cross River Governor

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has picked Friday, 25th March, 2022 to decide on a suit seeking to sack Ben Ayade as the Governor of Cross River State.

The suit seeking Ayade’s removal from office was filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) following the Governor’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/975/2021 was filed by the PDP lawyer, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), and is before Justice Taiwo Taiwo.

Joined in the suit is also the Cross River Deputy Governor, Ivara Ejemot Esu.

It will be recalled that twenty members of the Cross River State House of Assembly were sacked on Monday for dumping the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressive Congress (APC).

Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, sacked the lawmakers in a ruling on Monday, Naija News reports.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/975/2021 against the lawmakers alongside Governor Ben Ayade over their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The presiding judge ruled that the lawmakers ought to vacate their seats having abandoned the political party that brought them to power.

Justice Taiwo, however, ordered the Assembly Speaker and the other lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC should immediately vacate their seats.

“A day must surely come when elected officials, must either resign from their office or ask the people who voted for them before defecting to other political parties, instead of defecting to another party without recourse to the law and the citizens,” he said in his ruling.

The affected lawmakers have approached a court seeking a stay of execution order on their sack.

Following the developments, our correspondent reports that the Cross River State House of Assembly has been blocked by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force.

Operatives of the security agency on Tuesday turned back staff of the assembly, asking them not to loiter around the complex.

Eyewitnesses disclosed that men of the Nigeria police force took over the assembly as early as 6 am.

The units at the state house of assembly include the anti-kidnapping and cultism squad and the regular policemen.