There were indications on Sunday of rumbling in the House of Representatives over the leaders’ silence on the number of lawmakers, who had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to opposition parties.
It is said that most lawmakers are “displeased” with the alleged unwillingness of the leadership of the House to announce the number of representatives, who had changed their parties.
Said one of the lawmakers , “There is a problem and many of us are agitated. After the manipulation they called ‘primaries’ took place in January, many aggrieved members dumped the PDP; it is a fact.
“Some also moved from the All Nigeria Peoples Party to the Congress for Progressive Change; a large number defected from the PDP to Action Congress of Nigeria.
“But, what is happening now is that there is no official information on the strength of the parties in the House; there is an attempt by the leadership to cover up the fact that PDP recorded the highest number of defectors.”
Findings indicated that a convention of the House required that the speaker would announce the name of a member who was changing his party.
“Before now, they were always happy to announce the names if the defection was to the benefit of the PDP.
“But, when they found out after the primaries that most of the defectors were abandoning the PDP to other parties, the leadership started developing cold feet over announcing their names in chamber,” a lawmaker from one of the North-Central states, informed our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday.
Investigations revealed that most of the defectors had written the leadership, urging that their names be made known to their colleagues as had been the practice.
The leadership of opposition was reported to have suspected that the leadership was not willing to disclose the names for fear that this could lead to calls for restructuring of key appointments.
The Minority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, claimed that the opposition now controlled around 40 per cent of the membership, a shift from the past.
He said, “The opposition in the House today has a membership strength of about 150, which represents about 40 per cent of the total membership of the House, a welcome move towards a balanced government and a departure from a dangerous trend of a one-party state.
“The strength of the opposition in today’s House is drawn from five viable political parties namely ACN, ANPP, All Progressives Grand Alliance, CPC, Progressive Peoples Alliance, among others.”
Investigations showed that at the inauguration of this tenure of the House in June 2007, the PDP had about 251 members. The ANPP reportedly had 62, ACN, 33, while PPA had three members.
However, the spokesman of the House, Mr. Eseme Eyiboh, dismissed the “speculation” that the leadership was jittery over the PDP losing numerical strength.
Eyiboh claimed that defection was an “individual issue”, which was not binding on the leadership to announce.
He added, “The announcement is not statutory, it is not even in our rules book; it is just for record purposes.
“What is happening now is purely speculative and there is nothing like fear over numerical strength.”
Eyiboh insisted that the PDP was still “clearly” the majority party at the House, adding that there was no anxiety over restructuring of any appointments or positions.
“Announcing names is for the purpose of notification; that is all.
“The leadership is not under obligation to make such announcements; all the speculation is unnecessary,” he said.
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