APC Loses Slim Majority In The House Of Representatives
House of Reps Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal
The slim numerical advantage enjoyed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives since the defection of 37 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to its fold has been lost following the open declaration of Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele for Labour party.
In a letter read on the floor this morning by Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, Hon. Bamidele, who was hitherto a defacto member of the APC, told his colleagues that he had chosen to register with the Labour party because that is what his constituents in Ekiti State required of him.
The APC had maintained a slim majority of 172 members over PDP’s 171 and upon which basis it had put up a spirited battle to claim the leadership of the lower chambers from the ruling party which formed the government at the centre.
In fact, leader of the APC in the House, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, had on Tuesday attempted to subtly hijack
the leadership of the House from PDP by referring to Hon. Leo Ogor, Deputy Majority Leader of the House as ‘Deputy Minority Leader’, a statement which marred proceedings on the floor for up to 30 minutes.
In his letter, Hon. Bamidele said in the letter that he has now moved to Labour party since the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) on which platform he was elected in the House of Representatives, had seized to exist since its merger with other parties to form the APC.
The lawmaker has been having a running battle with the governor of his state, Ekiti, Mr. Kayode Fayemi, following his desire to contest the governorship election this year, an aspiration that has not gone down well with chieftains of the APC.
With this development, APC now has 171 members, same with PDP in the House of Representatives. Effectively, no party can claim a majority status in the House at the moment while Labour party now has an additional member to bring its strength to six members.
Last Tuesday, two members from Adamawa State defected from APC to PDP while one member from Benue State left the PDP to APC and another from Plateau State left Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) to the APC.
This report was prepared by our reporter in the National Assembly
