The Ogun House of Assembly on Tuesday,
rejected defection letters of two members of the House over failure to
prove the existence of crisis or division in their party.
Mr
Suraj Adekunbi (APC-Yewa North1), the Speaker, said this while reacting
to the submission of Mr Yinka Mafe (APC-Sagamu1), Majority Leader, who
spoke after the Speaker had read the defection letters of the lawmakers
during plenary in Abeokuta.
Adekunbi had read a separate
letter intimating the House that Mr Biyi Adeleye (Remo North
constituency ) and Mr Harrison Adeyemi (Ogun Waterside constituency) had
defected from the All Progressive Congress (APC) to the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
In the letter, Adeleye cited division
and crisis in APC both at the State and National level as the reason he
was dumping the party, saying the party had been polarised into two
factions.
He stated that his new party shares the same philosophy with him and his constituency.
Meanwhile,
Mafe urged the Speaker to discountenance the reasons advanced by the
lawmaker that the APC was polarised into two factions.
“APC has one party chairman in the person of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole .
” It will be unfortunate if we allow it to go down that APC has been divided whereas the party has not been divided .
”
I want you to tell him to prove to this House that APC is divided. If
he can not prove it , the Speaker should use his office to do the
needful,” he said.
The Speaker, however, noted that there was no crisis or division in APC both at the state and national level.
“On
this note , the matter will be set aside until the lawmakers are able
to prove to the House that there is crisis in the party,” he said.
Also
during plenary , the Speaker read the defection letter of Mr Bowale
Solaja (Ijebu North constituency), who defected from the PDP to the APC.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that four members of the House had on Aug.16 defected to two different parties.
Two
of the lawmakers, Mrs Akintayo Folakemi (Yewa South) and Mr Ojo Viwanu
(Ipoka/Idiroko) defected from PDP to APC while Mr Jemili Akingbade
(Imeko Afon) and Atanda Razaq (Yewa North 11) left PDP for African
Democratic Congress (ADC).
NAN reports that the assembly now has 20 APC members, PDP four while ADC has 2 members.
