A senator representing Imo East and member of the Labour Party (LP), Ezenwa Onyewuchi, has dumped the LP for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Onyewuchi’s defection was made public on Tuesday after his defection letter was read on the floor of the red chamber by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during today’s plenary.
In his defection letter, the Imo senator based his communication on Section 68(1g) of the Constitution.
He also noted that his decision is based on the recent crisis rocking the leadership of the LP which sponsored his election to the Senate.
His letter partly reads, “This decision is due to the intractable division and crisis in the Labour Party that sponsored the earlier election into the Nigerian Senate. The communication is therefore made pursuant to Sections 68(1g) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended. Imo state and the entirety of the south-east remain united under the leadership of our performing governor, his excellency, Hope Uzodimma.”
After reading his letter, the Senate President directed the sergeant-at-arms to hand Onyewuchi a new seat on the aisle of the majority lawmakers.
The Imo state governor and chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF), Hope Uzodimma, was present in the chamber when the letter was read.
News About Nigeria reports that, following this development, the number of LP senators in the upper legislative chamber is now five.
Similarly, a member of the House of Representatives, Salman Idris, has also decamped from the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to the APC.
The lawmaker, who is representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency in the green chamber, announced his decision in a letter read on the floor of the House on Tuesday by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen.
