The Peoples Democratic Party has become the majority in the Enugu State House of Assembly following the defection of six Labour Party Assembly members to the ruling PDP on Thursday.
LP had after the 2023 general election won 14 in the state Assembly, making PDP the minority for the first time in the current democratic dispensation.
With this development, PDP now has 17 members while the LP has six members.
The defection notice was contained n a letter read by the Speaker of the Assembly, Mr Uche Ugwu, during Thursday’s plenary. The defectors are the Majority Leader, Johnson Ani (Enugu North); the Chief Whip, Ejike Eze, (Igbo-Eze North 1); the Deputy Chief Whip, Princess Ugwu (Enugu South Rural); Pius Ezugwu (Nsukka East); Williams Amuka (Igbo-Etiti West); and Osita Eze (Oji River).
They claimed that their detection followed irreconcilable divisions and incessant crises within the LP at the national level and across all the state chapters.
They said it was regrettable that the party was witnessing discords, which were undermining their determination to deliver democratic dividends to their constituents.
They mentioned the cases of Julius Abure and Limido Apapa factions as well as the national treasurer as some of the divisions within the party.
They expressed the hope that the PDP would provide them the conducive environment to continue serving their people’s interests.
Our correspondent reports that the defected lawmakers had last week planned an open defection at the Okpara Square, Enugu, but cancelled it when they failed to garner a substantial number of people to cheer them.
Meanwhile, the state Chairman of the Labour Party, Barr Casmir Agbo, had earlier warned against their decamping. He said the party would “use all legal means to sack the defectors because LP is not in crisis”.
It is however believed that the outcome of the convention of the Labour Party, which elected Mr Julius Abure as the national chairman, and the rejection of the outcome by the Lamidi Apapa faction might have cleared the way for the lawmakers to defect.