Another PDP Reps Member Defects to APC

Hamilton Nwosa
Writer
new-diplomat default image
new-diplomat default image

Ad

Oil Prices Climb After OPEC+ Announces Modest Output Hike

On Sunday, OPEC+ agreed to raise oil output by 137,000 barrels per day (bpd) from November. The increase is equal to the one adopted in October, with markets seeing it as a cautious step amid persistent fears of an oversupplied market. This relatively modest increase came after the group hit back at rumors of a potential 500,000 bpd…

Saving Democracy: The Urgency of Electoral Reforms

By Dakuku Peterside Voter turnout is democracy’s vital sign, and ours has been fading. Since 2007, participation has fallen from 57% to 26.7% in 2023—our lowest since the return to civilian rule. Out of 93.47 million registered voters, only 24.9 million cast their votes. These are not just statistics; they are signals from the body…

Certificate Scandal: Accused Minister confesses + Details of court records

The Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, has admitted that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), never issued him a degree certificate. This admission validates the findings of a painstaking two-year investigation by PREMIUM TIMES, which revealed that he forged the credentials he submitted to President Bola Tinubu and the Nigerian Senate during his…

Ad

Another member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Johnson Agbonayinma, has defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Agbonayinma represents Egor/Ikpoba Okha Federal Constituency of Edo defected on Thursday 24 hours after a PDP member of the House, Mr. Nnanna Igbokwe, representing Ahiazu, Mbaise/Ezinihite Federal Constituency of Imo joined the ruling-APC.

In his defection letter read by Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Agbonayinma said that he took the action because the PDP shut the doors against him.

“What made me take this step is that PDP is factionalised and has continued to promote impunity.

“You can recall that I did not participate in the party’s national convention of Dec. 9 held at Eagle Square in Abuja because I belong to the Ali Modu Sheriff’s camp, which tried to put things right in the PDP.

“Sheriff tried to end the impunity that has characterised the PDP by ensuring the return of the party to the people.

“However, the party members refused to allow internal party democracy thrive.

“Today, the party is factionalised; while one faction is at the Wadata Plaza, another is in Asokoro.

“This is not the way to go; the concocted unity list by the governors during the convention further deepened the crisis in the party.

“The PDP has shut the door against me and I have no other alternative than to heed the call of the people who elected me to resign from the PDP and join the APC,’’ Agbonayinma said.

He claimed that he was being intimidated by his colleagues in PDP for opting not to join a walk out over Igbokwe’s defection.

Agbonayinma said that his colleagues vowed to frustrate his motion on Digital Switch Over for refusing to join the walk out.

“It is time to put partisan politics aside and promote national interest,’’ Agbonayinma said.

The House Majority Leader, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, said that “Agbonayinma took the right decision because his political philosophy is progressive’’.

However, the Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Rep. Chukwuka Onyema, on behalf of the PDP caucus in the house, bid Agbonayinma farewell.

Onyema said that Agbonayinma’s exit from the PDP leaves the party in a better shape.

NAN reports that Agbonayinma’s defection brings the number of lawmakers who decamped from the PDP to the APC to seven in the last 12 months.

 

(NAN)

Ad

Unlocking Opportunities in the Gulf of Guinea during UNGA80
X whatsapp