Two members of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tony Nwoye (Anambra State) and Hon. Udende Emmanuel (Benue State), yesterday defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In separate letters read by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, on the floor of the House, the two members cited the acrimony and division in the PDP as reason for their action.
They stated that since the PDP has split into three factions separately headed by Ali Modu Sheriff, Ahmed Makarfi and Jerry Gana, they do not wish to belong to any faction.
But the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor in a point of order protested the position of the members that the PDP is divided.
According to him, no recognized institution such as the courts had ruled that the party had split into factions.
However, the Speaker has said there was no need to debate the matter as the issues of the PDP will be handled at its national level.
Speaking to reporters, Ogor expressed shock over the lawmakers defection.:
“I wasn’t really expecting this. I am so shocked. I am so disappointed with those young men. I would have thought that they would discuss this kind of issue with me as the Minority Leader.”
He vowed that the defectors will vacate their seats even as he disclosed that the Party will commence a suit against them today.
According to him, the PDP was sure of victory as the lawmakers’ absolutely had no reasons to defect to the ruling party.
“There is a Supreme Court ruling on this matter. I pity those young men. They really don’t know what they have done. But for me, I am a law abiding citizen and I can tell you that by tomorrow morning (today), my party will be heading to court once I have the Order Paper for the day. We will be in court to make sure they vacate those seats, then we will go for an election to replace those ‘interlopers’. They think they can go to APC so easily but they are wrong. So long as we have a Supreme Court ruling on this matter, I am sure they are history.”
When reminded of the convention in Abuja by the Jerry Gana-led Concerned PDP Stakeholders, Ogor said:
“I have told those who care to listen that there is no division in the PDP. Clearly, the the PDP is one family and in line with the Constitution, Section 68.G which I quoted on the floor, the law is clear on this. We had a national convention, signed then by the national chairman, Ali Modu-Sheriff.
“The party itself went for that convention in Port Harcourt and you know that the party convention is the highest organ of the party. It has the power to elect and remove anyone and we saw the decisions that were taken in Port Harcourt. And no court of competent jurisdiction has today ruled that there is any faction in PDP, neither is there any recognised faction. But for reasons best known to them, they are trying to create a faction.”
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