A member representing Ondo East and West at the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter Makinde, has defected from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
His letter of defection was read at Tuesday’s plenary by House Speaker, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
Makinde cited alleged division in the ADC as the reason for his defection.
However, several members of the Peoples Democratic Party, including leader of the minority caucus in the House, Hon. Nicholas Ossai screamed point of order to protest against Makinde’s defection, stating that it contradicted Section 68 of the Constitution.
But Gbajabiamila threw out the arguments as he ruled them out of order.
Gbajabiamila described them as “meddlesome interloper,” noting that their objections “have no locus.”
Recently, the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly has been recording a gale of defection to the APC. Only last week, two members of the House announced ther defections to the party. While Shehu Yakubu Abdullahi from Bauchi State defected from the Peoples Redemption Party to the APC, Blessing Onuh, from Benue State dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance for the APC. Onuh is the daughter of a former President of the Senate, Senator David Mark.
The New Diplomat reports that eleven members of opposition parties have cross-carpeted to the ruling APC between October 2020 and February 2021.
The defections come amid the ongoing APC membership registration and revalidation exercise nationwide.
