Four members of the House of Representatives have defected from the Labour Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The lawmakers include: Rep Tochukwu Okere, Imo State; Rep. Donates Mathew, Kaduna State; Bassey Akiba, Cross River State; and Iyawu Esosa Edo.
Similarly, Erthiatake Ibori-Suenu, from Delta State, has defected from Peoples Democratic Party to APC.
The defection was announced by Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House, on the floor of the green chamber during plenary.
Responding to the defection, the minority whip, Ali Isah JC (PDP-Gombe), asked the speaker to declare the seats of the defected opposition lawmakers vacant in line with Section 68(1) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended).
The Speaker, however, said the lawmaker has failed to quote the whole section he quoted to justify his call to declare the seats vacant.
