The numbers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the House of Representatives increased on Wednesday, October 7, as two members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to the ruling party.

The speaker of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, at the plenary, read separate letters from Ephraim Nwuzi, who is representing Etche/Omuma federal constituency in Rivers state, and David Abel representing Gashaka/Kurmi/Sardauna federal constituency in Taraba state, announcing their defections, according to The Nation. 

Reacting to the lawmakers' defection, the deputy minority leader, Toby Okechukwu; the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu; and leader of the PDP caucus, Kingsley Chinda, separately raised constitutional points of order.

They asked Gbajabiamila to declare their seats vacant as there were no crises in the PDP in the defectors’ respective states.

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Elumelu said: “The member whose letter has just be read is from Rivers State and I am aware that there is no crisis in the PDP in Rivers State. As a result of that, we are demanding that the seat be declared vacant.”

The order paper read: "The speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, went on to examine and approve the votes and proceedings for Wednesday 7th, October 2020. He reads the letter of defection from Rep. Ephraim Nwuze from Rivers and Rep. Abel David from Taraba state. They both cited the “speaker’s stellar performance and leadership” as the reason for defecting from the PDP to the APC.

In his reaction, Okechukwu said: “This country is based on law and due process. It is clear that our colleagues who wrote to defect are simply quoting the charisma of the speaker.

"The law says there must be a crack in the party on whose platform the member was elected and in the absence of that, such a member should lose his seat. The Speaker must obey the constitution and ask those defecting to vacate their seat.”

Gbajabiamila, however, described leaders of the opposition as hypocrites, recalling that as minority leader in the previous Assemblies he also protested against defections to the PDP but his arguments were dismissed.

He noted that the PDP failed to lay the foundation of sanctioning illegal defections while in power, adding that, “Like you used to tell me, your points are noted. Any more defections?”