• PDP begins legal steps to recover mandates of Rivers lawmakers who defected twice
• Party brands defectors ‘political puppets’ undermining democracy and legislature
• Ememobong says lawmakers effectively moved from ‘APC to APC’, not from PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has intensified moves to unseat members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who announced their defection from the party for the second time, saying it will now invoke constitutional mechanisms to reclaim the mandates it said were “abandoned.”
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The party said the repeated defections amounted to an assault on the legislature and a violation of the 1999 Constitution. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Ini Ememobong, the PDP recalled that the lawmakers had defected earlier, reversed their decision, and have now re-announced their exit in what it described as a “politically orchestrated pattern.”
According to the statement:
“The members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have by their actions since they assumed office, shown that they are political puppets and a clog in the wheels of democratic progress.
They will go down in history as enemies of democracy and those who made mockery of the legislature.”
It added that the lawmakers’ latest declaration was not a genuine departure from the PDP but a shift between factions of the APC.
“So the easiest way to describe their action is a defection from APC to APC.”
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Ememobong said the PDP would now move decisively to enforce the constitutional provisions governing defections, noting that the affected lawmakers had “ignobly and surreptitiously” switched allegiance from the platform that brought them into office.
“Consequently, the PDP will take legal steps to activate the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999 as amended) to recover the mandate gained under the banner of our party…”
The party urged its supporters in Rivers State to stay calm and steadfast despite the political turbulence. It assured members that efforts to reposition the PDP in the state were already underway and anchored on inclusiveness, fairness and equity.
The PDP also stated that the unfolding political drama in Rivers would not derail its internal reform process ahead of future electoral contests.
