LP Senator, Onyewuchi Defects To APC

Ignatius Okorocha, Abuja

Senator Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi, representing Imo East Senatorial district on Tuesday at plenary, defected from the Labour Party (LP) to the ruling Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The defection of Onyewuchi was made public through a letter he addressed to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, which he (Akpabio) read on the floor of the apex legislative Assembly.

With the latest defection, the number of LP Senators in the Upper Chamber is now five.

The Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, who is also the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) and some memebers of his cabinet were admitted to Senate Chamber when the letter was read.

The Imo Senator cited Section 68(1g) of the Constitution to justify his defection, claiming that unresolvable crisis had engulfed the Party.

Part of the letter reads: “This decision is due to the intractable division and crisis in the Labour Party that sponsored my earlier election into the Nigerian Senate.

“The communication is therefore, made pursuant to Section 68(1g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

“Imo State and the entirety of the South-East remain united under the leadership of our performing Governor, Hope Uzodimma.”

Akpabio, thereafter, directed the Sergeant-at-Arms to allot a new seat on the aisle of the majority lawmakers to Senator Onyewuchi