The wave of defections in the National Assembly has continued as Garba Koko, a member of the House of Representatives, announced his switch from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, officially confirmed Koko’s defection on Wednesday after reading his letter on the floor of the lower legislative chamber.
Koko, who represents the Besse/Maiyama Yema Federal Constituency of Kebbi State, cited the “prolonged and unresolved crisis” within the PDP as his reason for leaving.
The main opposition party is immersed in a leadership struggle with the recent being on who is the authentic party national secretary.
However, Koko’s claims were immediately challenged by the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda, who insisted that there was no prolonged crisis in the PDP.
“It is important to correct this wrong impression. There is no protracted problem in the PDP,” Chinda argued, adding that internal disagreements exist in all political parties, including the APC and Labour Party (LP).
Following Koko’s defection, Chinda urged the Speaker to enforce Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution, which states that a lawmaker must lose their seat if they defect from their party without evidence of a serious internal division.
“The House should implement the Constitution by declaring the seat vacant. Let us not continue to set a bad precedent,” Chinda insisted.
In response, Speaker Abbas dismissed the request, stating that only the courts have the authority to declare a lawmaker’s seat vacant.
Koko’s switch to the APC came just a day after Amos Magaji, a lawmaker from Kaduna State, also defected from the PDP to the APC. In the past few months, several other lawmakers have made similar moves. On October 2, Chris Nkwonta, representing Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency in Abia State, left the PDP for the APC. On October 30, Sulaiman Abubakar, representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency in Zamfara State, ditched the PDP for the APC. On December 5, four members from the Labour Party (LP) and one PDP lawmaker defected to the APC.
(Politics Nigeria)