Court delivers judgment on Ayade’s defection today

A Federal High Court in Abuja has deferred judgement on the defection suit against Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State to today.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo, on Wednesday, deferred the ruling to April 7 to enable lawyers to address the court on the legal issues raised by the Court of Appeal judgement on Ebonyi governor’s defection.

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The Court of Appeal in Enugu had on April 1 held that the constitution did not make provision for the removal of a governor, deputy, or president and vice president who defects to another political party.

Arguing the matter, the PDP counsel, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) asked the court to remove the governor for defecting with the votes belonging to the political party. But defence counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) asked the court to follow earlier decisions by the Supreme Court on a similar matter.