{"id":96432,"date":"2025-12-05T15:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=96432"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:22:07","slug":"pdp-mum-as-rivers-assembly-speaker-16-colleagues-dump-party-for-apc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=96432","title":{"rendered":"PDP mum as Rivers Assembly Speaker, 16 colleagues dump party for APC"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a major political realignment Friday, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), alongside 15 other members of the Assembly.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Speaker Martin Amaewhule.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So far, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to react to the move.<\/p>\n

During the plenary session on Friday, Amaewhule declared: \u201cAPC is my new party,\u201d informing colleagues that he had formally notified his ward chairman of his resignation from the PDP and had already registered with APC.<\/p>\n

He cited an irreversible \u201cdivision\u201d within the PDP \u2014 both at the national and state levels \u2014 as the fundamental reason for their exit, arguing that staying would no longer allow them to effectively represent their constituents.<\/p>\n

Amaewhule also voiced support for the President, stating the defectors would back him \u201cfrom within APC\u201d \u2014 praising the President\u2019s \u201cgenuine support for Rivers State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those who joined APC with Amaewhule are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Dumle Maol (Deputy Speaker, Gokana)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Major Jack (Akuku-Toru)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Linda Stewart (Okrika)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Franklin Nwabochi (Ogba\/Egbema\/Ndoni)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Azeru Opara (Port Harcourt 3)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Smart Adoki (Port Harcourt 2)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Enemi George (Asari-Toru 2)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Solomon Wami (Port Harcourt 1)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Igwe Aforji (Eleme)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Tekena Wellington (Asari-Toru 1)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Looloo Opuende (Akuku-Toru 2)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Peter Abbey (Degema)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Arnold Dennis (Ogu\/Bolo)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Chimezie Nwankwo (Etche)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Ofiks Kabang (Andoni)<\/p>\n

The mass defection signals a major shift in the balance of power within the Rivers State Assembly, which had long been dominated by PDP. Observers say the move hands APC a strong foothold in the legislature.<\/p>\n

The defection comes amid a protracted crisis within the Rivers PDP \u2014 notably between factions loyal to former governor and now FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, and those aligned with current state government leadership under Governor Siminalayi Fubara.<\/p>\n

In recent months, Rivers State had undergone significant political turbulence: in March 2025 a state of emergency was declared by the federal government, suspending the governor, his deputy, and the state Assembly; the suspension was lifted in September.<\/p>\n

With this latest move, APC\u2019s strengthened numbers in the Assembly could influence legislative alignment ahead of future elections, including shaping support for national-level leadership.<\/p>\n

As of this evening, the PDP\u2019s state leadership has not issued an official statement responding to the defections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a major political realignment Friday, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), alongside 15 other members of the Assembly. So far, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is yet to react to the move. During the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":91878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[189,7626,7625,4177,334,480],"class_list":["post-96432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-politics","tag-apc","tag-defect","tag-martin","tag-mum","tag-pdp","tag-rivers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}