…as lawmaker Jagaba dumps APC for PDP
Embattled Kogi West senator, Dino Melaye, on Wednesday gestured that he had defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress to opposition Peoples Democratic Party, but came short of defecting officially at the Senate.
He attended the Senate plenary on Wednesday after some weeks’ absence. Melaye had been hospitalised following injuries he sustained when he either jumped or was pushed out of a moving vehicle while the police were taking him to Kogi State over alleged criminal offences.
Melaye, raising a point of order on Wednesday, thanked his colleagues, members of the House of Representatives, his constituents and the Nigerian populace for standing by him during his travails with the Senate.
Melaye also took his time to thank the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party for their support.
The senator, who attended the chamber with a neck support, also asked the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, to mandate the sergeant-at-arms to create a seat for him at the opposition wing of the chamber.
Thereafter, he announced he would sit beside former Senate President, David Mark, pending the time a seat will be allocated to him.
Melaye’s movement was greeted by rowdiness among lawmakers at the Senate floor with those who spoke later expressing mixed reactions. The PDP senators spoke in favour of his move while APC senators tried to prevent his movement.
He was thereafter aided by some of his colleagues to his preferred seat.
He is, however, yet to formally join the PDP. To do so officially, Melaye would have to write the Senate president of his decision to leave his party and join the opposition. The letter would then be read during Senate plenary.
Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives who represents Kachia/Kagarko federal constituency, Adams Jagaba, has formally defected from the APC to the PDP.
The Kaduna lawmaker in a letter read on the floor of the House by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, cited injustice and continued suspension from the APC as his reason for defecting to the PDP.
Jagaba had dumped the APC after the party announced his suspension. He also described the APC as a sinking ship.
Jagaba is the first defector in recent times that has favoured the PDP in the House of Representatives. All others have mostly defected to the APC.
