There was controversy in the Nigerian Senate as lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contested the defection of one of their own, Ned Nwoko from the opposition party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nwoko had officially informed the Senate of his defection to APC with the president of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio welcoming him to the party.
However, challenging his reason for defection, members of the PDP said the party was not in crisis as claimed by Nwoko who represents Delta North Senatorial District.
The PDP lawmakers also described Nwoko’s defection as unconstitutional.
Speaking during the incident, Benue lawmaker, Abba Moro raised a constitutional point of order querying whether the PDP’s National Working Committee crisis could justify Nwoko’s defection.
However, in their reaction, the APC lawmakers objected, stating that the Nigerian Constitution allows lawmakers to switch parties if their political party is facing internal crisis.
Countering the claim by Senator Barau, the former minister of interior said, “I want to state at this point that the PDP is a law-abiding institution, the court of Appeal has made a proclamation on the party secretaryship and the PDP is abiding by that court order until the Supreme Court decides otherwise.”
In his reaction, the Senate President dismissed the point of order raised by the PDP Senator.
He said that the Senate cannot assume the role of the court in determining who should stay with a particular party.
