By Austin Ogwuda
The recent disclosure by the former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege claiming that 10 lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Delta State House of Assembly were at the verge of defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared to have unsettled the leadership of the Delta Assembly led by the Speaker, Rt Hon Emomotimi Dennis Guwor
At the resumed sitting of the House on Tuesday, the Majority Leader of the House, Emeka Nwaobi, rose to the floor coming under the provision of ‘Statement By The Leader Of The House’, saying that the 22 Members of the PDP currently serving as Legislators in the State Assembly are solidly loyal to the ideals of the Party, pointing out that the intention of the rumour mongers was to heat up the polity in the State.
Nwaobi went on to say that all the 22 PDP members in the House are irrevocably committed to the Party and their loyalty “unshakable”, describing the report as false and baseless.
“It is a figment of the author’s imagination”, he stated.
The Majority Leader, on the contrary, revealed that five out of the seven APC members in the State House of Assembly were already indicating interest to join the PDP and that their defection plan was being discussed and perfected.
On the whole, the Speaker asked those in opposition parties in the State willing to join the ruling PDP to do so as the Party’s umbrella is big enough to accommodate everyone.
Senator Omo-Agege had while welcoming a staunch member and former Chairman of Isoko South Local Government Council, Chief Itiako Ikpokpo (aka Malik) at Uro-Irri declared that the PDP’s dominance in Delta State was “rapidly crumbling”.
According to him, “A major realignment in the power structure of the Delta State House of Assembly is looming as 10 lawmakers are set to dump PDP for APC, pointing out that with seven APC lawmakers already in the House, the defection of 10 PDP members would raise the APC’s numbers to 17, thus paving way towards APC desire to take over Delta State, come 2027.
