A member of the House of Representatives from Kaduna State, Amos Mogaji, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Mogaji’s defection was contained in a letter read by the Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, on the floor of the House on Tuesday.

The lawmaker, who represents Zangon Kataf/Jaba Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, cited division in the PDP as the reason for his decision to leave the party.

He said the party is grappling with division at both the national and ward levels, adding that all efforts to address the problem have proven abortive.

While members of the ruling party were congratulating Mr Mogaji for joining their party, the minority bench, led by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, attempted to protest the defection by raising a constitutional point of order.

Mr Chinda cited Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution to argue his point of order and called on Mr Tajudeen to declare the defector’s seat vacant.

However, members of the ruling party responded with loud boos, rejecting the order.

While ruling on the point of order, Mr Tajudeen said that since the defector had cited division in the PDP, he had complied with the law.

Section 68 (1g) of the 1999 Constitution states:

“A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if—

“being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected. Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

This defection is the latest to affect the minority caucus.

Both the Labour Party (LP) and the PDP have seen a significant decline in their numerical strength in the House.

The PDP has been grappling with an internal crisis since its presidential primary in 2022. Despite efforts at reconciliation, the crisis has remained unresolved.

A similar situation exists in the Labour Party, where division within the national leadership has been raging since the general elections.

Several lawmakers have taken advantage of these crises to defect from their parties.

Last week, Delta North senator, Ned Nwoko, defected from the PDP to the APC.

Bobodee09:
Nigeria politicians are all the same.
It is all about personal selfish interest, never trust or fight on behalf of any of them.

joeyswift:
I don't see any defection, I only see change of colour. Defection means changing ideology.

Bobodee09:
Nigeria politicians are all the same.


It is all about personal selfish interest, never trust or fight on behalf of any of them.

PigTormentor:


Nigerian politicians?

You guys make me laugh.
Just say Nigerians are all the same. That's why the country is a mess.
It's all about personal interests for all Nigerians. This is the problem that Nigerians don't want to accept. They rather blame just the politicians ignoring the fact that they are also selfish and greedy just like the politicians that they love to cry about.

LegendHero:
What is going on in Kaduna state. Seems the Southern Kaduna politicians in that state are abandoning PDP ship and joining APC.

ChiefOloye:
Not all defections are good for the actors involved, accept he's exceptionally accepted by his constituents, the guy won't find re-election easy in Southern Kaduna, flying APC.

ChiefOloye:
Not all defections are good for the actors involved, accept he's exceptionally accepted by his constituents, the guy won't find re-election easy in Southern Kaduna, flying APC.

EmperorCaesar:
Aminda..Guess this was cooked up in the SW media too

AMINDA:


Lol. If the President's strategy is to replace Northern Kaduna votes or better yet, Northern Muslim votes with Southern Kaduna or Northern Christian votes, then he has already lost the election. In 2023, Northern muslims splitted their votes between Tinubu (a southerner) and Atiku (a Northerner and a collusus in his own right). The Northern Christians and indeed, Southern Kaduna largely voted Obi in protest of the Muslim-Muslim ticket. Traditionally, Southern Kaduna have always voted PDP, they have never voted APC before now.

The President is fast loosing his Northern Muslim base and if these numbers are added to Atiku's, then the President will lose even if he gets Southern Kaduna votes (which as at today, is still not guaranteed). He should have found a way to keep his Northern base while still wooing the Northern Christian minorities. He hasn't done that. Right now, he's just replacing one for the other which is a strategic mistake.

Below are the numbers for Kaduna and how the two regions in the country voted. Like it or not, the North delivered Tinubu in 2023 because he lost Lagos and Osun in his region and generally didn't win the South. You can do the maths.

Bobodee09:
Nigeria politicians are all the same.


It is all about personal selfish interest, never trust or fight on behalf of any of them.

Akpakomiza2:


Atiku can only win the core north narrowly