In a gale of defection, five members of the House of Representatives have jumped ship, defecting from their respective political parties to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Four of the defectors are from the Labour Party (LP), while one member is from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Persecondnews reports that the LP defectors are Chinedu Okere (Owerri municipal/Owerri north/Owerri west federal constituency), Mathew Donatus (Kaura federal constituency of Kaduna), Akiba Bassey (Calabar municipal/Odukpani federal constituency of Cross River), and Esosa Iyawe (Oredo federal constituency of Edo).
Rep. Erhiatake Ibori, the daughter of Chief James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State, defected from PDP to APC.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas announced this on the floor of the Green Chamber on Thursday.
Abbas congratulated and praised the lawmakers for “taking the right decision.”
The lawmakers, while giving reasons for their defection, explained that the ideologies of the APC aligned with theirs.
They also cited the cases of faction, division, and crises in their previous parties.
The Minority Whip, Rep. Ali Isa, and the Deputy Minority Whip, Rep. George Ozodinobi, strongly opposed the defections.
Ozodinobi, a key figure in the Labour Party, criticized his former colleagues, stating that they lacked a clear ideology.
The APC has been gaining momentum, with several lawmakers from the LP and the PDP defecting to the ruling party.
Persecondnews recalls that Sen. Ezenwa Onyewuchi, representing Imo East, made such a move in July by defecting from the LP to the APC.
It was officially announced during a plenary session by the Majority Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele.
Onyewuchi cited the crisis within the LP as the reason for his resignation, stating that his decision aligns with the constitution.
Also, on October 2, a significant shift occurred in the political landscape as Rep. Chris Nkwonta, representing Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency in Abia state, defected from the PDP to the APC.
The move was announced in a letter read by the Speaker, Abbas, on the floor of the House.
As a result of his defection, Nkwonta was appointed as the Chairman of the House Committee on the South East Development Commission (SEDC), a position many considered “juicy.”
The Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Aliyu Madaki, protested the defection, citing Order 68 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires a crisis within the party for a lawmaker to defect.
However, the Speaker ruled in favour of Nkwonta, stating that there was indeed a faction within the PDP.
Furthermore, on October 30, Rep. Suleiman Abubakar Gumi, a member of the House of Representatives from Zamfara State, defected from PDP to APC.
Gumi’s defection was met with widespread celebration in his constituency, with thousands of supporters thronging the streets to welcome his decision.
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