37 House of Reps Members Defect to All Progressive Congress
Thirty seven house of representatives members from People’s Democratic Party(PDP) have defected to All Progressive Congress (APC), giving it a slim majority in the lower house of parliament.
The move follows a defection by five powerful governors last month to the main opposition coalition in a further blow to President Goodluck Jonathan's 2015 re-election bid.
"We the undersigned members of the House of Representatives elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wish to inform you that we have joined the APC," they said a letter dated Wednesday.
With the move, the PDP now has 171 members in the lower house, while the APC has 172, although the defecting parliamentarians may yet lose their seats as a result of the switch, leaving the PDP in control.
The PDP has been in power since shortly after the end of military rule in 1998, but it has been riven by internal squabbles centred on Jonathan's assumed intention to run for another term in office in polls expected in 16 months.
Many northerners say Jonathan's running again would violate an unwritten PDP rule that power should rotate between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south every two terms.
The move follows a defection by five powerful governors last month to the main opposition coalition in a further blow to President Goodluck Jonathan's 2015 re-election bid.
"We the undersigned members of the House of Representatives elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), wish to inform you that we have joined the APC," they said a letter dated Wednesday.
With the move, the PDP now has 171 members in the lower house, while the APC has 172, although the defecting parliamentarians may yet lose their seats as a result of the switch, leaving the PDP in control.
The PDP has been in power since shortly after the end of military rule in 1998, but it has been riven by internal squabbles centred on Jonathan's assumed intention to run for another term in office in polls expected in 16 months.
Many northerners say Jonathan's running again would violate an unwritten PDP rule that power should rotate between the largely Muslim north and mostly Christian south every two terms.
37 House of Reps Members Defect to All Progressive Congress
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