TRACKING_____Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, yesterday witnessed the defection of two members of the House of Representatives from Imo State from the Action Alliance (AA) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In their letter of defection read by the speaker, the lawmakers stated that their decision to dump the AA for APC was informed by the continued crisis in the party.
Shortly after the announced defection, minority leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, raised a point of order to counter the reasons advanced by the two lawmakers for their defection.
Elumelu, drawing from the constitution, argued that the action of the speaker in reading the defection letter was illegal. “I am not aware that there is crisis in the AA and the national chairman has ever informed me that there are factions in the party. Therefore, what you have just done is illegal and unlawful.”
However, Gbajabiamila ruled him out of order, saying he had no locus to challenge the defection of the lawmakers since he is not a member of AA.
“I will rule on your point of order based on section 68 of the constitution. The letter that I read out clearly states the reasons why they are leaving the AA.
“Second, there is something in law called locus. Are you a member of AA? You are the minority leader and you’re a member of PDP. As minority leader, you’re not automatically a member of AA. You can’t go to court because you’re not aggrieved. So your point of order is out of order.”
Addressing the media after plenary, the two lawmakers said they left the AA because of the different factions in the party.
According to Hon. Kingsley Obinna: “As I speak with you, we have different factions in AA. But today, we have seen Imo State that has been captured by APC and we have no reason that to come back and contribute our quota. We have to return home and build the party.”
He said: “We are happy that APC has recaptured Imo State. We have left Egypt for the promised land”, he stated.
In his submission, Hon. Pascal Obi said they were originally members of the APC but had to leave for AA, when they were unjustifiably denied nomination tickets. He said the party is better united now and that has informed their decision to come back.
