My defection to APC in line with Nigeria Constitution – Edo lawmaker

Ojiezele Osezua Sunday, the lawmaker representing Esan South-East Constituency on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State House of Assembly, has said that his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) is in line with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

Osezua defected to the ruling APC party in the State on Monday at the Party’s Secretariat in Benin City.

The two-time lawmaker noted that Section 109, Subsection (1) G, of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, permits him to leave his party when there are irreconcilable differences.

“Section 109, Subsection (1)G, is that the only reason you can leave your party is when there are irreconcilable differences. The PDP that sponsored my second tenure election is into that challenge”, he said.

He said the division in his former party, PDP, had given him room to join the All Progressives Party (APC) to pay the debts owed the party.

Osezua was first elected to the State House of Assembly between 2019 and 2023 on the platform of APC. He, however, defected to the PDP in 2020 alongside the immediate past governor of the State, Godwin Obaseki.

He was also among the 10 lawmakers that were inaugurated by the former Governor Obaseki at night.

His defection to APC came barely three months after his party, PDP lost the Governorship Election conducted on September 21, 2024, in the State to the former.

Speaking during the defection, he said he was leaving his party to join the APC. While describing his defection as a homecoming, he said he was leaving the PDP due to irreconcilable differences in the State and at the national level.

He also hinged his defection on the debt he owed the APC that must be paid. He, however, thanked the members of the State executive council of the party for receiving him.

“In 2019, APC was the ladder that brought me to the Assembly but unfortunately we have some challenges which led us into PDP in the company of the immediate past governor.

“Today, I am still indebted to the APC, because having sponsored me, I was supposed to spend four years but I only spent one year before I left, which means I am still indebted to the APC.

“Today defection is the debt I have come to repay”, he added.

Receiving the defected lawmaker to the party, Jarret Tenebe, the Acting State Chairman of APC, lauded the legislator for joining the party, saying “More people will defect to the party in the coming months.
“It is not the fault of APC for PDP to have a crisis in their party that will make their members cross the carpet and today we are happy.
You will recall that during the election campaigns, I said our doors are opened and the door is still open.”