The opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Cross River State has said they will proceed to appeal the judgment delivered yesterday by an Abuja High Court, in favour of Governor Ben Ayade.
An indication was given that the PDP will pursue the matter up to the Supreme Court.
In a statement released early Friday morning and signed by its Chairman, Vena Ikem, 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.”
According to the statement, Ayade has regretted what they described as an ill-fated adventure to APC, adding that they “will continue to drive the message home that it was the PDP that was elected to govern Cross River People in 2019 because our people are PDP, body and soul, and not APC.”
He consoled the supporters not to be dampened by temporary setbacks by yesterday’s judgment.
He also urged them to remain focused as the ‘bigger picture’ will only birth after the Supreme Court gives its verdict on all issues related to the matter.
