- Safiu Kehinde
The House of Representatives’ resumption to plenary on Tuesday was marked by defection galore as the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party, recorded fresh wave of allegiance switch by some of their lawmakers.
Having submitted their defection letters ahead of the resumption, the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, kicked off the plenary session with presentation of the letters before the green chamber.
In what he described as a growing fluidity within Nigeria’s political space, Kalu read out about nine defection letters before the chamber.
Notable among the defecting lawmakers is Thaddeus Attah, representing Eti-Osa Federal Constituency.
The Lagos lawmaker dumped the Labour Party for the ADC.
In his letter, Attah attributed his decision to “the protracted crisis in the leadership of the LP,” which he said has hampered effective representation of his constituents in recent months.
The APC on the other hand recorded the loss of two lawmakers as David Fuoh (Taraba) defected to the PDP, while Bashir Zubair (Kaduna) joined the ADC.
However, the APC recovered its loss through the PDP who reportedly emerged as the biggest casualty of the latest round of defections, losing five members.
Among them, Abubakar Abdul from Niger State and Ibrahim Mohammed from Kebbi defected to the APC.
Another Kebbi lawmaker, Yakubu Noma, opted for the ADC.
Meanwhile in Osun State, two lawmakers—Mudashiru Alani (Ayedire/Iwo/Ola-Oluwa) and Adetunji Olusoji (Odo-Otin/Ifelodun/Boripe)—left the PDP for the Accord Party.
Speaking on the defections, Kalu dismissed concerns that the trend signalled an attempt to edge the country toward a one-party system, insisting instead that it underscores democratic freedom.
The Deputy Speaker labelled the development as beauty of democracy.
“This is to show the country that no party is stiffled. People are leaving the majority party to the minority parties and the minority parties to the majority party. This is the beauty of democracy,” Kalu said.