Defection: PDP rejects high court judgement on Ayade, moves to appeal ruling

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Cross River State has expressed its dissatisfaction with the verdict of Abuja High Court in suit seeking removal of Ben Ayade as governor of the state for joining All Progressives Congress (APC) from the opposition party.

Recall that in his ruling on Thursday, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, affirmed the right of Ayade and his deputy to join any political party of their choice, adding that such action is not unconstitutional.

Reacting to the judgment, the PDP said it was studying the judgement with a view to approaching  the appellate court to overturn it.

The development points to PDP willingness to pursue the matter up to the Supreme Court.

The opposition party announced its decision to head to appeal court in a statement released early Friday morning and signed by its Chairman, Vena Ikem

In the statement the party said proceeding to the Appeal Court would remain “a civilized struggle and an intellectual exploration of the limits and vastness of our jurisprudence in this untested territory.”

The party said they will not rest until they get justice.

The party had approached the High Court in Abuja over Ayade’s defection to the ruling APC with its governorship mandate, describing it as a provocation by unscrupulous elements who were mistakenly given the mandate of the party in the past.

“We will be studying the judgment in its entirety with the certainty of appealing to the next Court of Law until justice is manifestly done.

“The judgment of yesterday by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja is yet another successful exploration of the dept of legal jurisprudence in uncharted territory such as we have at hand. Let me assure you that this judgment is only a step in the overall picture envisaged by our lawyers when they took steps to explore this legal option which has the potential to take both the Judiciary and indeed our entire democracy to another level entirely.

“We will continue to support our lawyers as they lead us in this battle for the soul of our democracy and good governance of our people.”

He hailed party stakeholders and supporters for not allowing Ayade to sleep well “with our stolen mandate and will continue to keep them sleepless for the remainder of the tenure which they shamelessly flaunt at us who made it happen.”