By Suleiman Anyalewechi
The gale of high profile defections rocking the Abia State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP. on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, regained currency after a lull , when one of its State Lawmakers, Hon. Dennis Rowland signed off.
But an angry State Leadership of the PDP has vowed to retrieve the Party’s mandate from the defected Legislator.
The Source reports that between the second and third quarter of 2024, the rank of the once Abia political behemoth, has seriously depleted. Hordes of past top party and Government officials have jumped ship .
The defection spree subsided reasonably, towards the end of 2024 as the Leadership of the party moved to reinvent the system.
The defection of Hon Roland, representing Isiala Ngwa South State Constituency to the ruling Labour Party comes on the heels of his purported suspension by the Leadership of his PDP Ward penultimate week.
His suspension followed closely to that of the Chairman of the Party’s Board of Trustees, BoT, Senator Adolphus Wabara The PDP leadership, also, cited alleged anti-party activities as a major reason.
Instructively ,his defection has, at the same time, tilted the balance of power in the 24 member state House of Assembly in favour of LP .
Before now, the PDP, with 12 Members, despite not being in charge of the State’s seat power, still maintained majority status.
However, with the recent development, the two rival parties have moved in the opposite direction. The LP is now on the driver’s seat with 12 members.
The PDP now has 11, while the All Progressive Congress, APC, continues to maintain its only one slot post-2023 general elections.
Hon Rowland’s defection, from same constituency as Governor Alex Otti, was announced during plenary Tuesday by the Speaker, Rt Hon Emmanuel Emeruwa.
Reacting to the defection on Tuesday ,the leadership of the Abia PDP condemned the move by Hon Rowland to still retain the legislative seat secured through the mandate of the PDP.
In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Eric Ikwuagwu, the Abia PDP declared its intentions to officially write to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, to declare the affected seat vacant.
The party also expressed its readiness to institute legal proceedings with a view to ensuring that the constitutional provisions guiding the system is strictly respected.
“The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Abia State Chapter, has been drawn to the recent defection of Hon Rowland Dennis from our great party.
“While our party respects the democratic rights of individuals to freedom of association, we strongly condemn the unethical and unconstitutional attempt by Hon Dennis to retain the legislative seat secured through the mandate of the PDP.
“The PDP is committed to safeguarding the mandate of the party, and defending the electoral trust bestowed upon it by the good people of Abia state”, the PDP’s spokesman assured.
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