Defection: INEC Asks Court To Dismiss PDP’s Case Against Ayade
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, asked the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to dismiss the suit the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed seeking to declare the seat of Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State and his Deputy, Ivara Esu, vacant, following their defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
INEC through its lawyer, Mr. Anthony Onyeri, told the court that the issue of defection, which PDP raised against Ayade and Esu, had already been decided by the Court of Appeal in Enugu in a similar case that involved Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State.
It argued that by the principle of stare decisis (judicial precedence), the high court ought to abide by the decision of the appellate court to the effect that neither a go...
