Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has pleaded with Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal to stop and reverse the defection of Peoples Democratic Party members to the All Progressives Congress.
Akpabio made the call in Uyo during a working visit of the Speaker to the State.
He said, “You must do everything humanly possible to avoid further defection of PDP members in the National Assembly. Even those that have defected, we want to implore you to do your best to convince them to come back because the umbrella is not torn. The umbrella can accommodate them and can still cover them very well.”
Akpabio also decried the high rate of turnover in the legislative.
He said, “The turnover in the National Assembly does not allow for proper enactment of laws and it wipes out experience and this is of concern to the governors. I recall in 2007 when we came in, only 17 members who were there in 2003 made it back.
“We made strenuous efforts in 2011, but we ended up producing only 23 per cent and that is not good enough for our democracy. I am not saying people should stay for 40 years in the National Assembly, but we need experienced legislators so that the business of legislation would not have to be learnt in every session.”