PDP Move To Declare Defecting Reps’ Seats Vacant

A member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Dakuku Peterside, has said that the move by the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to declare vacant the seats of the defecting lawmakers is nonsensical.

He said more lawmakers and PDP senators would soon defect to the main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

Peterside, who represents Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro, yesterday in Port Harcourt, declared that the PDP no longer represented the aspirations of the defecting members.

He said: “It (declaring vacant the seats of the defecting Reps) is nonsensical. It clearly shows that those at the helm of affairs right now in the PDP do not know the provisions of the law and in case they know the provisions of the law, they have shown us in recent times that the PDP is not a party that respects the law.

“It (PDP) is a party of men who champion impunities, men who champion or support corruption. So, we will not be surprised if they pursue what is not realisable, but I can tell you that it is pure waste of time and effort.

“The Constitution is clear. When a party is either factionalised or a party experiences a division and in the case of the PDP, of course you know what happened from the period of the last national convention in August, where some governors, some members of the National Assembly walked out of the convention and after then set up a parallel secretariat of the party, set up parallel executive of the party and of course on the floor of the National Assembly it was acknowledged that there are various factions of the PDP.

“A faction of the party aligned with the APC. There is no denying that there are factions in the party. The party itself admits that and the law is clear in a case where there is a division in the party, the constitution is clear on that.”

He said: “One is the direction the nation is going. You can see the level of impunity in the country. You can see the level of corruption in the country. Our economic growth is stagnated.

“We (Reps) were concerned that this is not the PDP of our dreams and that that platform cannot deliver the dividends of democracy to our people. That platform, the PDP, does not represent our aspirations and the things we wish for Nigeria, in the light of that there’s absolute need for us to change platform.

“The second reason is for those of us from Rivers State, politics is a game of interests. Different incentives drive different actions. Different incentives can premeditate different outcomes.

“If our incentive for being involved in politics is to better the lot of our people, to protect the interest of our people and to advance the course of our people. Then, there are minimal standards expected of anybody who truly wishes to represent the people.

“In the case of Rivers State, we were watching as our resources were being taken away. We were watching as the PDP could no longer protect the interest of our people. We were watching as we could not boast of a single developmental project, despite the fact that we gave PDP the highest number of votes in the past election. We were watching as we got not a single project.

“We were watching as the PDP, which is the facilitator of our democracy at our instance, began to work against Rivers’ interest. It was no longer tolerable for us to remain on such a platform.”

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