Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described as unfortunate the defection by 17 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who pledged allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Rivers Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule, announced the 17 lawmakers’ defection from the PDP to the ruling APC during plenary in the House of Assembly on Friday.
They were all loyalists of Wike’s faction of crisis-ridden PDP.
The Minister described the departure of the lawmakers as “unfortunate,” adding that the party’s internal crisis contributed to their exit.
Wike reacted to the situation while speaking to journalists at the site of an ongoing construction of the interchange bridge connecting Maitama, Gishiri, Jahi and Gwarimpa in Abuja.
However, he said that his PDP camp would continue to work with the remaining lawmakers still loyal to the party.
“Well, it’s unfortunate. I have always said that everybody has the right to make a choice. The party is fully factionalised. And the requirement of the Constitution is that when a party is factionalised, they are allowed to leave the party.
“You will see that it’s not everybody who has left. I believe 16 or 17 of them have left out of 27. We still have a good number, about 10, and we will continue to work together,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka.
Wike also denied knowing about the planned defections.
“They never told me, but they have a right,” he said.
The former Rivers State Governor also stated that he remained in the PDP, urging the party to put its house in order.
“I’m still in the PDP. So those who have remained, we’ll continue to work together. And I have said to the party, ‘Put your house in order. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t put your house in order, it’s the party that will lose’.
“And we still ask the party to work together to see how the remaining members will be a relevant opposition. But they chose not to.
“So for me, those who have left are free. But those who remain in the party, we will continue to work together,” the Minister added.
Amaewhule, cited divisions in PDP as the reason for the defection, saying they would back the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
