36 House of Reps members dump ruling party for PDP, ADC

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been hit by another wave of defections as 37 members of the House of Representatives have officially dumped the party during plenary on Tuesday, July 24, 2018.

The letters of defection of the affected lawmakers were read by Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, as 32 of them defected to the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP).

Four lawmakers moved to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the political party adopted by the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) launched by former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Emmanuel Orker-Jev (Benue), the last representative that dumped the APC, didn't announce his destination.

The lawmakers said the division in the ruling party has compelled them to seek refuge in other parties.

After Tuesday's plenary, Abdulrazak Atunwa (Kwara), a defecting lawmaker, explained that their departure is due to the failure of the APC because it is failing in governance.

He said, "Firstly this was a party that we all laboured for, a party that we all joined together from our various parties pre-2015, campaigned heavily for it in 2015 and we formed a government. We came together because we believed in what we proposed to the people of Nigeria; we believed in change.

"We believed that this country needed to be better ruled; we believed that the youth of this country deserve better; we believed that the men and women of this country deserve better; we believed there ought to be a better method in social integration; we believed that job opportunities must be provided."

He further noted that more lawmakers will soon follow suit and dump the ruling APC.

"This constitutes the first batch of those who signified that they would leave the APC and therefore you should expect in the next few days defecting members of the APC on the floor of the House of Reps.

"We took the step today. Like I said, 37 members left the APC as a first batch; more people will leave the APC in the nearer future," he said.

The defection follows shortly after 15 Senators in the upper legislative chamber also defected from the APC to the PDP, on a day that has been full of political intrigue.

Lawmakers who defected to the PDP

The 32 lawmakers that dumped the APC for the PDP are Garba Umar (Kano), Olayonu Tope (Kwara), Ahmed Garba (Kano), Kabiru Marafa (Sokoto), Zakari Mohammed (Kwara), Abubakar Amuda-Kanike (Kwara), Ali Madaki (Kano), Hassan Saleh (Benue), Ahman Pategi (Kwara), Mark Gbillah (Benue), Shehu Usman (Kano), Aminu Shagari (Sokoto), Nuhu Danburam (Kano), and Abdulrazak Atunwa (Kwara).

Others are Salisu Zakari (Bauchi), Hassan Omale (Kogi), Rufai Chanchangi (Kaduna), Abdulsamad Dasuki (Sokoto), Sani Zoro (Jigawa), Benjamin Okolo (Kogi), Funke Adedoyi (Kwara), Bode Ayorinde (Ondo), Bashiru Salihu (Sokoto), and Barry Mpigi (Rivers).

The remaining defectors are Nasiru Sule (Kano), Segun Ogunwuyi (Oyo), Lawal Rabiu (Kaduna), Sani Rano (Kano), Dickson Tarkighir (Benue) Musa Adotsamiya (Kano) and Emmanuel Udende (Benue).

Lawmakers who defected to the ADC

APC lawmakers that defected to ADC are Sunday Adepoju (Oyo), Olugbemi Samson (Oyo), Taiwo Michael (Oyo) and Olasupo Abiodun (Oyo).