PDP loses majority as 37 Members of The House of Representatives defect to APC

 

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  which controls the majority in the House of Representatives suffered a major setback yesterday as  37 members formally defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress(APC).
The development came barely a month after governors dumped the party to join the APC. They are Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto).
With the defection yesterday, PDP membership shrank in the House to 171 while APC has moved from 136 to 172. Labour Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord Party have 15 members. Based on the new configuration,  no party currently commands simple majority in the House. This leaves the fate of the leadership of the chamber hanging in the balance.
Yesterday’s cross-carpeting was marked by an interesting drama. The drama started soon after the lawmakers commenced business of the day. The first shocker was an executive session which lasted less than 10 minutes,  making it one of the shortest in this dispensation. Sources also said former vice president Atiku Abubakar may defect to APC.
Upon return to the plenary from  the closed-door session  at about 11.56am, the Speaker, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, announced that the House had adopted the report of the joint committee on harmonisation of the crude oil benchmark  and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
Tambuwal said, “in our closed-door session this morning, we discussed the MTEF and the  benchmark for the sale of crude oil and adopted $77.5 for the  2014 budget estimates.”
After this announcement, the Speaker  told the House Leader, Hon. Mulikat Akande-Adeola, to  move a motion to allow the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala be allowed entry into the chamber to present the 2014 budget on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan.
It was immediately seconded by her deputy, Hon. Leo Ogor, PDP, Delta.
But the real news came when the Speaker announced  that he has received communication from a group of 37 members of the PDP announcing their defection to APC. The development caused a huge stir in the chamber. APC lawmakers gave a loud ovation to the announcement .
Reading from the letter, he  said, “our 37 colleagues elected under the platform of PDP have decided to join APC as a result of the problems in our party and we have merged with APC according to Section 68 of our 1999 constitution. “
He had hardly finished when Hon  Kingsley Chinda,(PDP,Rivers)  raised a Point of Order citing Order, 9 Rule 57 of the House  rules . He reminded the House that  there was a judicial matter still pending in court over defection of PDP members to APC.
The Speaker, however, responded to Chinda’s observation and promised to look into the Point of Order. He said  , “I’ve listened to you attentively  and I’ve taken note. “
Tambuwal’s response was hailed by APC lawmakers . The Speaker quickly  announced  the names of all those that defected.  This led to another round of joyful noise by the APC members
Each member, as his name was called,  received a loud ovation from the vociferous APC lawmakers . They later filed out to have a handshake with the Speaker.
However, Tambuwal revisited the Point of Order raised by Chinda, explaining that he was aware of a court ruling barring him and the Senate President on the matter in question. He pleaded with the House to allow him seek legal opinion on the ruling and report back to the House.
With 172 members, the APC has a slim  majority and will need nine members to reach a simple majority of 181 to enable the party elect the leadership of the House.
Yesterday’s development followed Tuesday’s meeting between new PDP and APC .
Some  major APC lawmakers in the House held a meeting from morning to afternoon, Tuesday on the issue. It was observed that most of the who-is-who in APC at the House were not at Tuesday’s plenary.
Meanwhile, barring any last minute change of mind, 22 senators from the new PDP may defect to APC.
The move was supposed to be simultaneous in the Senate but for some unknown reasons, the move was stalled yesterday.
To perfect the move, the lawmakers approached the Federal High Court in Abuja in yesterday, seeking to restrain National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Senate President David Mark, Tambuwal and the INEC from declaring their seats vacant. The suit wass adjourned to January 22, 2014 for hearing.
















Iheanacho Nwosu