Niger Assembly Speaker Dismisses Fears Of Mass Defection From APC

Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Mohammed Sarkin-Daji, has dismissed rumours that 10 All Progressives Congress (APC) members of the House would defect to the opposition party.

LEADERSHIP gathered that shortly after the immediate past Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mohammed Nami, was given the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, rumours emerged that APC members, including 10 lawmakers who could not secure the APC ticket, would defect to the PDP.

The Speaker, however, disclosed to journalists yesterday at the State Assembly Complex in Minna that reports of defection from the APC on the floor of the state parliament were “mere social media propaganda aimed at creating confusion among members of the public.”

He said although the House would ordinarily not respond to every report or propaganda circulating on social media, he considered it necessary to address the trending story in the interest of the state and the unity of the Assembly.

Sarkin-Daji explained that there was no move by any member of the State House of Assembly to defect from the APC to any opposition party, saying, “I want to make it very clear that there is no such move by any member of this Assembly to defect from the APC to any other opposition party. You can see with your own eyes that all the 27 members are here.”

“We have interacted with one another and we have investigated whether there is anyone of us who, behind the scenes, is working out something with the opposition. Unfortunately, I regret to announce that there is no such move by any member of this Assembly,” he added.

He said the members were united in support of the Governor, Hon. Mohammed Umaru Bago, and the President, adding that the President should know that the people of Niger State, including the State House of Assembly, were fully behind Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago and would give him the necessary support to succeed in his assignment of campaigning for him as North Central coordinator.

He said members who had secured the opportunity to return to the Assembly had fully embraced their colleagues who were unable to return, noting that their inability to secure the party’s ticket was not necessarily because they were unpopular or not preferred by their constituents, but largely due to the geopolitical zoning arrangement in the state.