THE lawmaker representing Ogbomoso-North/Ogbomoso-South/Orire Federal Constituency in Oyo State at the House of Representatives, Ajao Adejumo, has defected from the Action Democratic Party and joined the All Progressives Congress.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, read Adejumo’s notice of defection during the plenary on Tuesday.
Adejumo said the move was based on “Gbajabiamila’s leadership style.”
The lawmaker said, “I left the APC before for ADP because I couldn’t get the ticket. But now, I’m going back home.
“Your (Gbajabiamila) charismatic and all-inclusive, transparent and objective leadership of this House won my admiration for you and the progressive party in moving the nation forward.
“Before now, I used to be an APC member. It was due to the lack of giving me a ticket that made me cross (to the ADP), to go and contest. So, my coming to APC is coming back home. APC is a party of progressive people and I want to join the like minds of the progressives.”
A member of the House, Teejay Yusuf (PDP/Kogi), who said he loved the reason given by the lawmaker for defecting, asked the speaker to ensure that he was given a ticket to contest in the 2023 general elections.
Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila has declared the seat of Jos-North/Bassa Federal Constituency in Plateau State vacant in the House. The declaration came about seven months after the death of the former occupant, Haruna Maitala.
Declaring the seat vacant, the Speaker said, “This is to notify the honourable members of the House of Representatives, pursuant to Section 68(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, that the seat of Bassa/Jos-North Federal Constituency of Plateau State has become vacant.
“This vacancy is as a result of the death of Honourable Maitala Haruna on April 2, 2021, which was announced at the plenary session on April 13, 2021.
“This notification is in fulfilment of section 68(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and for the records.”