Thirteen members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday announced their defection to other parties citing irreconcilable differences, crisis in the party and undemocratic tendencies as their reasons for changing parties.

However, Minority Leader of the House, Kinglsey Chinda who has emerged as the APC governorship candidate for Rivers state tendered his resignation as the Minority Leader of the House, while thanking members of the opposition for the opportunity to serve them in that capacity and contributing to the development of democratic ideals in the House.

The resignation of Chinda, the Minority Leader, has effectively left the opposition lawmakers with only one leader, the Deputy Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi.

The defectors include Alex Egbona (Cross River) who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Esosa Iyawe (Edo) who is defecting for the third time in three weeks to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) after losing the party primary for the House of Representatives seat on the platform of the APC and Jonathan Gaza Gbewfi who is leaving the Social Democratic Party for the Labour Party.

Others are Sani Lawal (Katsina) who resigned his membership of the APC, but his destination was not announced by the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen who read the letters of defections, while Shehu Dalhat Tafoki (Katsina) is leaving the APC to join the PDP.

The PDP also lost Adebayo Adepoju (Oyo), Stanley Olajide (Oyo), Ojo Sunday Makanjuola (Oyo), Najeem Oyedeji (Oyo), Folajimi Oyekunle (Oyo), Abbas Adigun (Oyo) and Auwalu Gwalabe (Bauchi) to the Allied Peoples Movement (APM.

Benedict Etenabene left the Labour Party (LP) for the peoples Democratic Party.

One of the defectors, Jonathan Gaza Gbewfi has already secured the ticket of the Labour Party as its governorship candidate for the 2027 governorship election.

Egbona, in his letter said he was leaving the APC because the party which he claimed to have help built in Cross River state has been fragmented and can no longer participate in the activities of the party, while pledging his continued loyalty to the leadership of the House.

On his part, Esosa Iyawe said he was leaving the APC as a result of irreconcilable difference in Edo chapter of the APC and the refusal of the leadership of the party to addressing his concerns.

Iyawe who joined the APC in March from the Labour Party announced his defection to the NDC shortly before the House adjourned for the Sallah break and to allow members participate in the primaries of their parties, but later withdrew his defection to the NDC, while saying he did not order the letter on his defection.

On the 12th of May, he wrote to the leadership of the House informing them that he was was remaining a member of the APC, but in his letter read at plenary on Tuesday, he demanded that his letter of May 12 be with drawn, while pledginmg his commitment to democratic principles.

While Sani Lawal announced his defection from APC, without announcing where he was going to, he said he was repositioning himself to better service people, while Shehu D. Tafoki who also left the APC for the PDP said he was leaving the PDP after careful reflection and wide consideration to better serve my People.

Those who left the PDP for the APM claimed they were leaving due to the prevailing leadership crisis, legal tussle and division within the PDP, while Etanebene Benedict said he was leaving the LP to PDP due to the dissolution of the elected party executive by the National Leadership, leaving him without any leader to relate with at the state level, especially at a time when parties were in the process of nominating their candidates.

He also alleged that he discovered that the Leadership of the party are in tte process of imposing a Presidential candidate on the party, while campaigning for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. (The Nation)

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