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Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
Leke Baiyewu, Abuja
Published 3:36 am
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday inaugurated the new member representing Aba-North/South Federal Constituency in Abia State, Mr Chimaobi Ebisike.
Ebisike of the Peoples Democratic Party replaced Ossy Prestige, a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, who died in Germany on February 8, 2021.
After the inauguration, Gbajabiamila said he expected the new member in the All Progressives Congress, which is the ruling party and has majority in the chamber.
“Congratulations once again. As it has been the practice and the trend in the last few weeks, we will be expecting your letter of defection to the APC very soon,” he said.
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The lawmaker’s defection brings to four the number of lawmakers that have joined the APC on the floor of the house since Tuesday.
Onuigbo’s defection was announced by Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, at plenary on Thursday.
The lawmaker cited crisis and impunity in his local government chapter of the PDP as his reason for defection.
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“The past months have witnessed intense crisis bordering on tyranny, arising from lack of internal democracy and downright impunity in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” Onuigbo’s letter reads.
“This crisis has seriously distracted genuine leaders from effectively carrying out their primary responsibility of providing leadership to our people who, as it is, have been starved of progressive leadership.
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Two members of the House of Representatives announced their defections at the plenary on Tuesday.
While Aliyu Ya’u (Peoples Democratic Party, Kano), defected to join the All Progressives Congress, Shiddi Danjuma (APGA, Taraba) also defected to the APC.
The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, read their separate letters of defection during Tuesday’s plenary.
The Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu; and Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, faulted the defections arguing that the defectors misled the house by claiming they left their former parties because of a crisis.
Gbajabiamila noted their points but went on to declare that with Yau’s defection, all of Kano’s 24 members now belong to the APC.