Six Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the House of 
Representatives on Tuesday have defected to other political parties. The
 Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, announced the defection of the members during 
the House’s plenary in Abuja.
The defected members are Tobias Okwuru and Peter Ali, both from 
Ebonyi, to Labour Party, and Chinenye Ike from Abia, to All Progressive 
Grand Alliance (APGA). Others are Micah Umoh and Robinson Uwak, both 
from Akwa Ibom, who defected to Accord Party and All Progressives 
Alliance (APC), respectively, and Ibrahim Garba from Jigawa, who also 
defected to APC.
The media reports with the latest defections, APC now has 181 
members, the highest number of lawmakers in the House. It is followed by
 PDP with 156 members and other political parties, 23 members. It would 
be recalled that the membership of the House released on January 14 
after the defection of 10 lawmakers to various political parties showed 
that APC had 179 members, PDP, 162 while other parties had 19.
Based on this recent development, the Deputy Minority Leader, 
Abdulrahman Kawu from Kano, raised a point of order, saying that APC 
members should occupy the positions of House Leader and Deputy House 
Leader. He also said the positions of the Chief Whip and Deputy Chief 
Whip should also be occupied by the APC in accordance with the rules of 
the House.
However, the Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, ruled that the matter should not be discussed as it was before the court.

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