Reps Clash as Another PDP Member Defects to APC

Members of the House of Representatives had a brief noisy session on Wednesday as another lawmaker defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress.

Incidentally, the member who defected on Wednesday, Mr. Emmanuel Ukoette, is from Akwa Ibom State, a PDP stronghold.
The lawmaker said the PDP was in factions to a point he no longer knew whether there was still a political party.

“I have decided to join the APC, where there is focus”, he told the session, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.

But, his former PDP colleagues did not take kindly to the reason he gave for defecting.

They shouted him down and accused him of being a “disappointment” to the PDP.
There was more drama when APC lawmakers promptly came to the defence of Ukoette, saying that he had taken the right decision.

The Majority Leader of the House, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, also exchanged words over the decision of Ukoette.
As Ogor raised a point of order and rose to oppose the defection, Dogara took sides with Ukoette and Gbajabiamila.
The speaker said, “Before the minority leader speaks, he must first tell us which PDP he belongs to.

“Are you in the (Ahmed) Makarfi group or the Sheriff group? Tell us.”

The Punch