Sen. Nelson Effiong representing Akwa Ibom South senatorial district, on Wednesday defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Effiong, while quoting Order 43 at plenary, said his decision was to enable him pursue his political career.
He said: “I was elected into the Senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, but over the past one year, this great party has disintegrated.
“As a result of the crisis in the party which appeared to be intractable, I have decided that no reasonable politician will allow his people to drift without direction.
“So, I have today, the 19th day of January 2017 resigned from the PDP and move to the party that is bringing peace and direction to this country.”
In his reaction to the defection, Deputy Minority leader of the senate, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha expressed concern at the consequences of Effiong’s defection to the APC.
“What he (Effiong) has said appears to be an insult to those of us who are in the PDP.
“If he wants to do the usual business in Nigerian politics or follow the weather, he should say it clearly.
“This business of moving here and there following the weather should be stated clearly and he should not deviate from the original intention,’’ he had.
Also speaking, Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, noted that both the Constitution and the Supreme Court stipulated that it was not an individual that contest election.
“It is the political party. And therefore, the moment somebody takes the mandate of the political party it behoves on that political party to immediately take steps.
“We had rumours that this was going to happen; we engaged the senator in various discussions and we showed him the implication.
“We want the senate to note that the PDP in Akwa Ibom is on its way to court and we want to reclaim his mandate.
“We must reclaim the mandate given to us. We don’t mind him joining the APC, but he will not go with the mandate given to us in Akwa Ibom,” Akpabio said. (NAN)