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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Cross carpeting by lawmakers continued yesterday as eight members of the House of Representatives switched parties.
The defectors include Thaddeus Attah from Lagos State, who dumped the Labour Party ( LP) for the African Democratic Congress (ADC); Usman Zubairu from Kaduna State, who joined the ADC from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Sani Noma from Kebbi, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ADC.
Others are Abubakar Buba (Niger State) and Ibrahim Mohammed (Kebbi State) who moved from the PDP to the APC. Two Osun lawmakers, Mudashiru Alani and Adetunji Olusoji left the PDP for the Accord Party while David Fuoh from Taraba State dumped the APC for the PDP.
Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, while reading the notice of defections, said the development indicates freedom of association.
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He dismissed concerns that the country might be tilting towards a one party state, on account of the spate of defections of opposition politicians to the ruling party.
“This is to show that no party is stifled. People are leaving the majority party to the minority parties and the minority parties to the majority party. This is the beauty of democracy.”
In the last few weeks, defections of lawmakers have become a regular affair on the floor of the House. On March 31, 30 members of the Green Chambers dumped the political platforms on which they were elected into the parliament for other parties.
While the defections have given the APC an overwhelming majority in the House, the number of PDP lawmakers have reduced drastically, while the ADC has gained many new members.
