Teddy Oscar, Abuja
The ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is heading for more trouble, as 37 members of the House of Representatives on Wednesday announced their defection from PDP to the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The development is seen as a major change, which is capable of making a serious change in the leadership of the House.
The decampees, who are particularly not happy with the deputy speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, said that their defection to APC was in line with Section 68(1G) of the 1999 Constitution.
They further hinted that the division and factionalisation of PDP informed their decision to join APC.
“This action is as a result of the division/faction in the political party (PDP) that sponsored our election into the House of Representatives. Furthermore, we write to inform you that following this division, the faction of the PDP, which we belong to, has formally merged with the All Progressive Congress (APC),” the letter read.
The decampees and their states include: Kano (11), Sokoto (10), Rivers (8), Kwara (6) and Katsina (2).
Following the defection, the strength of PDP in the House has been reduced from an initial 208 to 171, while the strength of APC has been boosted from 135 to 172.
The two parties are now followed by Labour, which has 10 members, APGA (5), Accord (4) and DPP (1).
Although APC currently looks stronger than PDP in the House, the former still needs an additional nine (9) lawmakers to form the majority party in the House with 181 members.
Going by this defection, the voting pattern of the House would change direction as to which party calls the shot on the floor of the House.
Rumours making the rounds have it that the lawmakers have lost confidence in Emeka Ihedioha as the deputy speaker.
There are also insinuations that Ihedioha wants to defect to protect his position in the House, but the aggrieved lawmakers would not bulge in their demands to unseat the present No 2 in the House.
The defection could also sweep off Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande and Hon. Leo Ogor, leader of the House and deputy leader of the House, respectively.
Recall that PDP crisis started early in November, after PDP national working committee announced the suspension of Kawu Bareje, former acting national chairman of PDP.
