By Elsie Udoh
The Benue State High Court has ordered Iyorchia Ayu to temporarily stop acting as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The presiding judge, W.I. Kpochi gave the order on Monday in response to an ex parte motion filed by Conrad Terhide Utaan with the suit number MHC/633/2023.
Recall that Ayu’s suspension had been initiated by the party’s Executive Committee in the Igyorov Ward of the Gboko Local Government Area, LGA, Benue State.
The former senator had been suspended based on alleged anti-party activities and a series of offences ranging from non-payment of membership dues to voting in the gubernatorial and state assembly elections as well as working against the interest of the party in his ward, Igyorov Council Ward.
However, Ayu had reacted to the suspension by saying that he cannot be suspended by his Ward leadership because the party’s constitution prohibits any organ of the party or executive committee of the party at the Ward or State Level from taking any disciplinary measure against any member of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
He had also added that the exercise was in futility and that the letter used in suspending him was fraudulent as the signatures of the Ward Executives were forged or obtained under duress.
