The Peoples Democratic Party’s freefall deepened on Wednesday as two House of Representatives members formally defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), triggering an emergency caucus meeting of the remaining PDP lawmakers.
In separate letters read during plenary, Hon. Engr. Rodney Ebikebena Ambaiowei (Sagamu/Epe/Ejigbo, Bayelsa) and Hon. Abubakar Boko (Boko/Boko, Bauchi) cited the PDP’s “protracted leadership crisis” and “confusion over which faction controls the party” as reasons they could no longer stay.
Rodney, Chairman of the Nigeria–Switzerland Parliamentary Friendship Group, said the chaos had made it “increasingly difficult to effectively represent my constituents.”
Boko, who chairs the House Committee on Basic Education and Examination Bodies, added that he reached the decision after “wide consultations with my family and constituents.”
Both lawmakers have notified their ward executives and tendered formal resignations from the PDP.
The defections were greeted with applause from the APC side, with one senior ruling party member joking that the APC is “the biggest and greatest party in Africa.” The presiding officer quickly shut down further comment “for obvious reasons,” sparking laughter across the chamber.
Within hours, PDP Minority Whip Rt. Hon. Ali Isa Jegede fired off an urgent notice convening an emergency caucus meeting of all remaining PDP House members for 2:00 p.m. Wednesday in Room 4-1-7.
Sources say the agenda is simple but grim: stop the bleeding.
With Rivers Governor Siminalayi Fubara and 16 state lawmakers already gone, and now two more federal lawmakers jumping ship, the PDP’s once-mighty legislative bloc is shrinking fast — and 2027 is looking bleaker by the day.
The opposition’s emergency huddle begins in less than two hours. Expect fireworks.
