Six members of the House of Representatives from the New Nigeria Peoples Party and the Peoples Democratic Party have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Reading their resignation letters during plenary on Wednesday, the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen, said four members of the NNPP, Kano caucus, resigned from the party and declared their membership of the ADC.
The first to announce his defection is the member representing Minjibir/Ungogo Federal Constituency, Kano State, Adamu Wakili.
The speaker quoted him as citing “persistent leadership crisis in the NNPP resulting in internal divisions,” as reason for aligning with the ADC.
“I find it imperative to align with a platform that guarantees inclusion and I hereby notify the House of my intention to join the African Democratic Congress,” the letter read in part.
The trio of Umar Zakari, Umar Datti and Abdulhakeem Ado, also from Kano, resigned their membership of the NNPP and joined the ADC, citing protracted leadership crises both at the sub-national and national levels.
In Zamfara State, Ahmadu Kabiru representing Gusau/Tsafe Federal Constituency announced his resignation from the PDP with immediate effect “due to irreconcilable differences.”
He subsequently announced his decision to join the APC, pleading his readiness to “align with the transformatory policies of President Bola Tinubu as contained in the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
Also, the member representing Ahiazu/Ezinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency of Imo, Mr Chinedu Martins defected from the PDP to APC.
The Imo lawmaker said he had already joined the APC in his ward since March.
NAN reports that with the recent wave of defections in the past few months, the APC retains majority membership in the House with 282 members.
It is closely followed by the PDP which now controls 30 seats.
The ADC has 24 seats while LP, Accord Party and APGA have 10, 4 and 5 respectively.
The Action Peoples Party and Social Democratic Party have two seats each while the NNPP is left with one.
