DRAMA AS FORMER APC LEADER OPEYEMI BAMIDELE DEFECTS TO LABOUR PARTY

A former Leader of the All Progressives Congress caucus in the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, on Thursday formally informed the House that he was no longer a member of the APC. He has now joined the Labour Party.

He told members that his reason for leaving APC dated back to the start of merger talks among the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party.

Bamidele added that he opposed the merger from the beginning and did not wish that “my party, the ACN,” should be part of the merger. As he made his explanations, LP members, Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers, among others were seen shaking hands with him and congratulating Bamidele on his decision to join LP.

Reacting to claims that the APC had lost its majority strength due to the defection of Bamidele, the Minority Leader in the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, explained that the Ekiti lawmaker had never been included in the calculation since he had already left the party.

The APC leader added, “Let me state that Bamidele was not in the initial numerical configuration that gave birth to the majority status of the APC about two months ago. 

“From the record of the APC House Caucus,  his name had been  deleted long before his official communication of defection today.

“I wish to reaffirm that the majority status of the APC status remains intact.”

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.