Two Bayelsa lawmakers in the House of Representatives have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Naijaonpoint reports that the lawmakers are Rodney Ambaiowei, representing the Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, and Oboku Oforji, representing the Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Constituency.
The lawmakers’ defection was announced by House of Representatives Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, in a letter read during Wednesday’s plenary.
Ambaiowei cited the ongoing internal crisis within the PDP as the reason for his defection.
He added that the defection has become necessary to offer his constituency true representation.
He said, “This decision is burned out of the division in the national leadership of the PDP, which has sprinkled across the various structures and chapters of the party, creating confusion as to which faction is responsible for the party affairs.
“With this uncertainty, it has become difficult to perform my role and effectively represent my constituency.”
Similarly, Oforji said while he has left the PDP due to the prolonged leadership crisis, he remains deeply grateful to the party that elected him to parliament.
Meanwhile, Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State officially defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, a strategic move reportedly executed to pre-empt his estranged predecessor, Nyesom Wike, and take control of the APC structure in the oil-rich state.
The defection, which Fubara announced at a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt, was confirmed to be a calculated political manoeuvre following his closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Monday.
Governor Fubara, while announcing his defection, publicly acknowledged President Tinubu’s intervention as the sole reason he survived the political turmoil, which saw his government briefly suspended.
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