A High Court, sitting in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, has restrained the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu, from parading himself, as the Chairman of the party.
The presiding judge, Justice W. I Kpochi, sacked Ayu on Monday, pending the determination of the substantive suit which is scheduled for hearing on April 17, 2023.
A member of the PDP in Benue State, Terhide Utaan, who is the plaintiff in the suit, obtained the order, restraining Ayu from parading himself as the PDP Chairman.
Speaking after obtaining the Court order, in Makurdi, the plaintiff said following the suspension of Ayu by his Igyorov Ward Exco, on Sunday, it is wrong for him to continue to engage in activities of the office of national chairman and further disunite the party.
The Executive Committee in Igyorov Ward, Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, had on Sunday, suspended Ayu for alleged anti-party activities.
The committee had insisted that the former Senate President’s anti-party activities, alongside his allies, contributed to the party’s loss in his ward and local government in the March 18 governorship election in the state.
They had also accused Ayu of not paying his annual dues as enshrined by the party’s constitution, noting that most of his closest allies worked for the All Progressives’ Congress, APC, which resulted in the abysmal performance of the PDP in Igyorov Ward.
Reacting, the PDP Chairman, in a statement by his Media Aide, Simon Imobo-Tswam, on Monday, said the members of the committee, who suspended him are “illiterates”.
Ayu described his suspension as “an exercise in futility, as it derives its strength majorly from gross illiteracy, ignorance, gambling and desperation”.
He stressed that only the PDP National Executive Committee, NEC, has the power to suspend him, saying the suspension letter was written by an illiterate and given to the coerced members of the committee to sign in Makurdi.