We also made the news... Meanwhile, there was another mild drama at the House of Representatives over defection on Thursday as the Democratic Peoples Party wrote the House to protest the defection of one of its members to the APC. Lawmakers were taken aback when the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, read the letter on the floor. The member in question was Suleiman Yahaya-Kwambe (Plateau State), who announced his defection to the APC on Tuesday. But, at Thursday’s plenary, Tambuwal read a protest letter written by the National Chairman of the DPP, Gen. Jerry Useni (retd.) to members. In the letter, Useni said the former DPP member did not have the backing of the party to join the APC. He further noted that the lawmaker was directed to join the PDP, not the APC. “He was directed to declare for the PDP, not APC,” part of the letter read. At this point, there was a thunderous laughter on the floor, as lawmakers expressed shock that a party chairman would instruct his member to declare for another party. The Speaker, who could not help laughing too, said he needed to read the letter to the House so that he would not be accused of hiding communications to the House from outsiders. He told members that there seemed to be a new condition for defecting to another party, which was to seek the consent of your national chairman. Tambuwal added, “These are indeed very interesting political times in this country. “To those of you who have yet to declare and may wish to declare for any party, be guided that you must consult your national leaders first.” However, in a reaction to the letter, Gbajabiamila, said that DPP’s action was strange to law.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 01:17:18 +0000