The 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Governor Chibuike Amaechi yesterday formally announced their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Leader of the assembly, Chidi Lloyd, made the declaration at the sitting of the assembly at the Old Government House Executive Council Chambers, where the pro-Amaechi lawmakers have been sitting for about five months. Only about 13 of them were present at yesterday’s sitting.
He stated that they had ceased to be members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that further correspondence to them should bear the APC.
Lloyd said: “The 25 pro-Amaechi lawmakers have asked me to declare our formal defection to theAPC. Henceforth, 25 of us should be referred to as APC members.
“We are telling the world today that we are all members of the APC. All correspondence to us should describe us as APC members.”
Responding to the defection, the Speaker, Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, requested his colleagues to document their decision.
Meanwhile, one of the pro-Amaechi lawmakers, Golden Chioma, who was kidnapped by gunmen, has been freed by his captors.
His release, yesterday morning, came less than 24 hours, after the seventh legislative assembly, in a motion of urgent attention, appealed to the suspected kidnappers to free him unhurt.
The lawmaker, who is representing Etche Constituency II and Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, was abducted by unknown gunmen on Tuesday, July 8, 2014, in Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.
It was reported that the captors did not establish contact with the victim’s family.
It could not be ascertained if ransom was paid before he regained freedom.
This came as no fewer than 90 members of the PDP in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state have equally parted ways with the PDP and moved over to the APC.
The former PDP members, including youths and women were officially received into the APC by a member of the National Assembly representing Rivers South-east senatorial district, Senator Magnus Abe.
Abe, who was in Afam, headquarters of Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state in continuation of his empowerment initiative, danced round the arena with the new party members, all of who were holding brooms.
Addressing the new members, the Senator assured that they will not regret their decision, because “you will be carried along”, describing the APC as the party to beat.
He disclosed that the leader of the party in the state, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, was not fighting for himself, but for the betterment of the state and called on the people to continue to support him.
“Our leader, Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, is clear with what we want for Rivers State. He is not fighting for himself, he is fighting because of us, so that our state will be better. We made him governor and nobody can stay anywhere and dictate to Rivers people. If they want anything they should talk to him,” he said.
Abe, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), assured the over 90 persons who defected to the APC that they were now major stakeholders in the party and urged those who are yet to register officially with the party to do so in order to strengthen their participation in party activities.
According to Abe, “that thing that you have seen is what we saw and we left that place. And in this business, every human being is valuable, that is why we are receiving you with open arms.”
Earlier, leader of the decampees, Mr. Chukwu Umeh, said they dumped the PDP because the party was not the right vehicle that will take them to the promised land.
Umeh further said the PDP had lost its vision, adding that the people of Oyigbo no longer had confidence in it, because it is a failed party.
Continuing, he said, “we want the leadership of the APC to carry us along in the scheme of things and we will support them to the last.”
But in swift reaction, the state chapter of the PDP has said the claim that over 90 of its members decamped in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state was completely false and aimed at misleading the good people.
The Chairman of PDP in the state, Mr. Felix Obuah in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Jerry Needam, said all members of the PDP in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state are intact and not even a single member had decamped to the APC or any other political party.
The PDP said in the last few weeks, over 200 members of the APC in Oyigbo had decamped to the PDP and that the party was planning a reception ceremony for them.
“Our units and wards membership records in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state bear no such name like Mr. Chukwu Umeh, claimed to have led the decampees to APC.’’ PDP disclosed.
The party urged the public to ignore the story of its members in Oyigbo decamping into APC, as there is no truth in it, emphasising that the current game of the APC was to cajole people with money and lay claim to imaginary membership, having lost grip of the state, following the abysmal failure of the governor to deliver on his campaign promises and collapse of governance in the state.