By Princess-Ekwi Ajide, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has been joined in seventy-one new cases in various Courts across the country in the past 3 months.
In a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barrister Festus Okoye, the Commission noted most of the cases, including the one on Ebonyi State, involve either intra-party issues or litigants seeking for various reliefs from the Courts that entail consequential orders that are binding on the Commission.
The Commission said owing to additional Court processes, it has decided to defer its deliberation on the Ebonyi cases and stepped down the listed Memorandum to enable its Legal Services and Clearance Committee to study the new processes in the light of the previously served ones and advise the Commission comprehensively.
It listed the Court cases on the defection of the Governor and Deputy-Governor of Ebonyi State and sixteen members of the State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) for deliberation as the Commission had been served with nine separate Orders and Motions from various Courts on the matter but its attention was drawn to an additional Court processes served in respect of the matter.
The Commission expressed worry at the rising tide of litigations that do not directly involve them, but in which the principal parties joined it sayingbthat the Commission will meet next week to deliberate on the matter and thereafter make its decision public.
