Another lawmaker dumps PDP in Lagos Assembly

- The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos state has lost another lawmaker to the All Progressives Congress (APC)

- Victor Akande (PDP-Ojo I) defected to the APC over the number of factions in PDP

- Six out of the eight lawmakers elected on the platform of PDP had earlier defected to the ruling APC

One out of the remaining two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Victor Akande(PDP-Ojo I), on Monday, July 10, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Akande informed the House of his defection on the floor of the Assembly through a letter he addressed to the speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, which was read by the Clerk of the Assembly, Mr Azeez Sanni.

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Akande, in the letter, said he was defecting because of the factions in the PDP, which he said were not just two but four, especially in Lagos state.

The letter read: "My defection is to further continue my support of adding legislative excellence to Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode and the political leadership of the Speaker of the Assembly, who has impacted on legislative standards in the state.

“PDP has fallen apart and the centre can no longer hold, so I have chosen to follow the stable APC. I thank PDP for giving me the political platform to showcase myself.

“I also thank my constituents and traditional rulers in my constituency for their support. I will continue to give them better representation and for me, this is a home coming,’’ Akande said.

Commenting on the letter, Akande said he moved to APC with the blessings of his people from the Ojo Constituency I, including the royal fathers and all indigenes and non indigenes of the constituency.

“I consulted widely before arriving at the decision to dump PDP for APC. I hereby shed the garb of PDP and I want to now be clothed with the APC garb,’’ Akande said.

Akande’s counterpart from the Ojo Constituency II, Mr Olanrewaju Ogunyemi, said, “Akande has made our day in Ojo with this defection.

“Actually, there is nothing more for him to do in the PDP than to move to the moving train of the APC.’’

The speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa, congratulated his colleagues for their good work, which he said, made all the defections possible.

Obasa also thanked Akande for coming on board the APC.

He said: “We know you are a man of integrity and we are sure that image will reflect in our party.’’

With the latest defection, the sole opposition lawmaker in the Assembly is Mr Dipo Olorunrinu, representing Amuwo-Odofin Constituency I.

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According to an earlier report by Legit.ng, six out of the eight PDP lawmakers in the Assembly had defected to APC on February 16.

The lawmakers claimed they left the PDP because of the crisis in the party and attendant leadership tussle.

Below is a Legit.ng video in which an APC official speaks on the possibilities of having the ruling party ousted in 2019.

Source: Legit.ng