A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Conrad Utaan, has revealed on Monday that he filed a suit against Dr Iyorchia Ayu to be removed as the chairman because he failed to lead the party to victory.

He said Ayu has no reason to be the chairman of the main opposition since his ward has suspended him.

A High Court sitting in Makurdi presided over by Justice Wilfred Kpochin issued an interim order restraining Ayu from parading himself as the chairman of the party.

The order of the court was issued on Monday following an ex-parte application brought before the court by Utaan.

The application was supported by a 15-paragraph affidavit and three exhibits including the applicant’s PDP membership card, receipt of payment of dues and a copy of the resolution of the PDP Executive of the Igyorov Council Ward of Gboko Local Government Area, suspending Ayu.

The plaintiff in the application argued that the National Chairman should stop to function in that capacity “having lost membership of the party, pending the hearing and determination of Motion on Notice already filed.”

In his ruling, Kpochi held that the court, after listening to the plaintiff’s counsel move the application “and upon a dispassionate consideration of the facts placed before me in the pool of the affidavit evidence, and again, upon the consideration of the issues distilled in the written address by the plaintiff’s counsel, it is my candid view that this is a proper case to grant the interim injunction as craved.

“Consequently, this application Is hereby granted in terms of the reliefs captured in the motion papers as herein before reproduced. It is so ordered.”

Speaking shortly after the ruling, Utaan explained the reason behind his approach to the court to sack Ayu.

He said, “We naturally expected that out of the performance that we have just recorded as a party in Benue we expected Dr Ayu, like it is done in saner climes, to step aside honourably because he wasn’t able to lead the party to victory; and allow the party to move on without him.

“Unfortunately he has refused to show or display that kind of honour and I thought it wise to approach the court to see how to agree with the position of his ward who only 24 hours ago, suspended him from the party. Our expectation is that you cannot be the National Chairman of a party that you are not a member of.

“Fortunately for us as a party, Dr Ayu is no longer a member of the PDP as declared by his ward and under normal circumstances, he has no reason whatsoever to continue as the National Chairman of our party.”