Nigeria: Edo Assembly Factional Speaker Dumps APC for PDP

Benin — The factional Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Chief Festus Ebea, at the weekend, formally dumped his party, the APC in favour of the PDP, at a rally in Ubiaja, the headquarters of Esan South-east Local Government Area of Edo State.
This is coming 24 hours to the resumption of plenary by the factionalised state assembly,
Suspicions of his defection to the PDP was one of the reasons given when he was 'suspended' along with three other APC lawmakers, namely, Patrick Osayimwen, Friday Ogieriakhi and Jude Ise-Idehen, on June 9 this year.
He remained in the APC while the trio dumped the APC for the PDP.
After his suspension, Ebea was later 'impeached' by the APC dominated state Assembly in an action which led to the break-up of the 24-member state Assembly into two parallel factions along APC and PDP lines.
The two factions in the last four months have held parallel plenary along party lines and at two separate locations, with the nine PDP members electing him as their Speaker in July.
Speaking at the event, Ebea said his decision to pitch tent with the PDP was informed by the fact that the APC as a party has lost direction flowing from the ideals of the defunct ACN on which platform he contested and won the state Assembly seat in 2011.
"My constituency has been particularly sidelined in the scheme of things in spite of numerous promises and budgetary allocations for development projects that were never executed by the state government. And my people have wondered if this should continue," he stated.
The lawmaker said the PDP has proved at the national level with President Goodluck Jonathan at the helm that Nigeria can be transformed with credible and people-centred leadership and development programmes.
"Even at the state level the constructive leadership style of the state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, has helped put the party into reckoning as a competent opposition which can and will take over the state house in Benin City in 2016," he stated.
Ebea who also used the occasion to formally declare his intention to seek re-election to the state Assembly as representative for Esan South-east said that he remained committed to transforming his constituency with 'trusted, tested and dependable' legislation' that would help bring about the needed development of the locality.