The member representing Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rep. Chris Nkwonta has defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He was made the Chairman of a newly constituted House Committee on South East Development Commission (SEDC) after the announcement of his defection by the Speaker, Abbas Tajudeen during plenary yesterday.
The speaker who announced the defection of the lawmaker, did not give any reason and members of the APC welcomed him into their fold while the Deputy Minority Leader, Rep. Aliyu Sani Madaki (NNPP, Kano) raised a point of order.
Rep. Madaki asked the speaker to declare Nkwonta’s seat vacant citing Section 58 of the 1999 constitution as amended which he said provided that a member can only leave the party he was elected on its platform if there is crisis insisting the PDP was not in crisis.
However, the speaker ruled him out of order arguing that based on the information available to him, there is a faction in the PDP.
After the announcement, Nkwonta was appointed Chairman of the newly created Committee on South East Development Commission (SEDC) with Rep. Sunday Nnamchi as deputy.
The speaker also announced other new committee chairmen and their deputies respectively.