Two members of the House of Representatives from Cross River, Rep. Legor Idagbo and Rep. Michael Etaba have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The lawmakers notified the parliament of their defection in separate letters addressed to the house and read by the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila at plenary on Tuesday.
The lawmakers said that the crisis rocking the PDP leadership in the state was the reason for their defection to the APC.
However, the Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Toby Okechukwu (PDP-Enugu) urged the Speaker to declare their seats vacant in line with section 68 of the 1999 Constitution.
He said a lawmaker elected on a platform of a political party, can only defect to another when there was crisis in the party.
Okechukwu said that there was no crisis in the PDP insisting that the seats of the defectors be declared vacant.
In his ruling, Gbajabiamila said that the fact that the defecting lawmakers said there was crisis in PDP showed that there was a division in the party.
He, however, said that the point raised by the Okechukwu was noted and continued with the proceeding of the day.
Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River had earlier defected from the PDP to the APC.
Ayade said that the reason for his defection was to join hands with President Muhammadu Buhari to build a nation “we will all be proud of.”
