There was uproar on the floor of that Senate on Wednesday as All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers disagreed with their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterparts over the decision of Sen. Ned Nwoko to defect to the APC.
Nwoko, who represents Delta-North Senatorial District of Delta State, officially notified the Senate on Wednesday of his decision to dump the PDP, the platform he used to win his victory to the Senate.
A defection letter he wrote to the Senate was read to senators by the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, during plenary.
The summary of Nwoko’s reason for the defection was that the PDP had become factionalised and lost its steam as a frontline opposition party.
He expressed worries over the “crises” in the PDP, saying that Nigeria was now dangerously drifting towards a one-party state in the absence of a viable opposition.
Nwoko urged the Senate to set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the crises in the PDP and “recommend the way forward to safeguard the future of opposition politics in Nigeria.”
But, rowdiness set in as soon as Akpabio read the letter. PDP members began protesting, while their APC colleagues celebrated the defection by embracing Nwoko, raising his hands up, and walking him from row to row.
Rising to cite a constitutional order of Section 68 (g) of the 1999 Constitution, the Minority Leader, Sen. Abba Moro, asked Nwoko to vacate his seat, having defected from the party that sponsored his election to the National Assembly.
“I feel very sad that one of us has left the party today. We made efforts to ensure he remained in the PDP, though he has his rights as an individual.
“However, as I am speaking to you now, there is no division in the PDP.
“He can’t continue to hold on to our seat and his tenure hasn’t expired.”
Moro also rejected comments suggesting that the PDP has two national secretaries.
“The Appeal Court has ruled that Sen. Anyanwu is the secretary of the party. Until the Supreme Court decides otherwise, the PDP has only one national secretary”, he insisted.
Leading the response from the APC, Akpabio reminded Sen. Moro that a division of the National Working Committee of a political party automatically implied a crisis in that party.
“Read that order again, Sen. Abba Moro. I want the members to hear you well.
“Once there is a division in the NWC, then any member can defect. For instance, who is the National Secretary of the PDP?” Akpabio interjected amid uproar among the senators.
Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin, also rose to fault Sen. Moro’s argument that the PDP remained a united party.
Relying on the same Section 68(g) of the constitution, Jibrin insisted that once a party was factionalised, there was an immediate legal ground for defection to take place.
“Everyone in this country knows the PDP has the Wike faction and the Bala Mohammed faction.
“So, what we have done by allowing Sen. Nwoko to defect is in line with our constitution. Even a child knows that the PDP is divided”, he said.
Appearing to give up, Sen. Abdul Ningi (PDP Bauchi-Central), began singing, saying that the APC could take Nwoko, “Carry am go, carry am go!”
Amid the opposing views expressed by both sides, the Senate Leader, Sen. Opeyemi Bamidele, rose to further defend the Senate in accepting the defection of Nwoko.
“The right of every lawmaker to defect is guaranteed by the constitution and under our own rules.
“The conditions for such a defection to happen are well captured by the constitution. There is a sharp division in the PDP today with two factions leading the party.
“What the PDP lawmakers are doing now is an attempt to distract us and to distract other members of the PDP and opposition parties who may want to join the APC”, Bamidele stated.
Akpabio sustained the defection of Sen. Nwoko and ruled out the complaints by the PDP caucus.
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