- Members of the House of Representatives have celebrated their colleague Johnson Agbonayinma's defection to APC
- Agbonayinma said he has observed that in spite of efforts being made to rescue the PDP, it appeared to be set on dying and will be dead
- He maintained that the recent national convention of the party as another wasted opportunity to check the reign of impunity in the party
There was a mild drama on Thursday, December 21, in the House of Representatives following the defection of another member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing Egor/ Ikpoba-Okha federal constituency of Edo state.
PDP members, including the Minority Whip, Yakubu Barde; deputy minority leader, Chukwuka Onyema; deputy minority Whip Binta Bello; chairman, house committee on Foreign Relations, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje; and the chairman committee on public petitions, Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, danced as they bade Johnson Agbonayinma goodbye.
Punch reports that they chorused, “Agbonayinma, bye-bye; Agbonayinma, bye-bye; we wish you luck.”
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Onyema raised a point of order to give the position of the caucus on the defection.
According to him, ''Even though we oppose defection; in the case of Agbonayinma, we are actually happy that he is leaving.
''He is like a tumour. You know when you have cancer and it is cured, you feel happy because it has left you. The PDP house will be better without Agbonayinma being with us. So, Agbonayinma, bye-bye.''
Agbonayinma was a member of the Ali Modu Sheriff-faction of the party before the Supreme Court recognised the then Senator Ahmed Makarfi faction as the authentic leader of the party.
It was learnt that the Edo state deputy governor Phillip Shuaibu witnessed the defection.
Agbonayinma later addressed journalists in company with the Majority Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the National Assembly.
Agbonayinma said he had observed that in spite of efforts being made to rescue the PDP, it appeared to be set on “dying, dying, and will be dead.”
He cited the recent national convention of the party as another ''wasted opportunity to check the reign of impunity in the PDP.”
''PDP is totally factionalised and a house that is divided against itself will not stand. I decided to leave because I couldn’t face the heat in the dark house.
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''I left darkness for light. The so-called unity list that produced the current leaders of PDP only brought more disunity to the party.''
On his part, Gbajabiamila said he was elated that Agbonayinma joined the APC, saying he had always known him to be a man with a “progressive mind.”
According to him, ''If you know Agbonayinma, he is the kind of person that should be in the APC, not in the PDP. I knew that it was only a matter of time he would join the APC.''
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had reported that two days after a member of the House of Representatives, Raphael Igbokwe defected from the PDP to the APC another member has defected.
Johnson Agbonayinma from Edo state, a member of the PDP announced his defection to APC on Thursday, December 21.
PDP Chieftain, Chief Chyna Iwuanyanwu speaks about the party's crisis - on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng