APC finally Defeats PDP in House of Reps; In Clear Majority

With the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the majority in the House of Reps, a plot by the federal lawmakers from APC to effect a leadership change in the House was stopped by the speaker who is also a member of the APC, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.

At the plenary, the House deputy minority leader, Hon. Suleiman Kawu Sumaila (Kano/APC) raised a point of order, reminding the House of the new majority status of the APC following mass defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the leading opposition party.

He said based on this, APC should be the party occupying the positions of House leader and deputy House leader as well as chief whip and deputy chief whip in accordance to the Rules of the House.

But Speaker Tambuwal, however, said

the lawmakers should caution themselves against any move to change the House leadership, reminding them of a court action on the issue of defections.

You may wish to know that, following six defections (all from PDP) on Tuesday, the 360-member House now features APC with 181 seats; PDP 156 seats and other parties 23 seats.

Poll Shift, A Dent On Integrity Of 2015 Election – Tambuwal
The speaker, Tambuwal, has said that the postponement of the general elections has “inflicted an indelible dent on the integrity of the 2015 Elections and indeed the country’s electoral process”.