‘PDP now minority in House of Reps’

The Chairman, House of Representatives
Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr.
Zakari Mohammed, raised the alarm on Friday
that the current crisis in the Peoples
Democratic Party had turn the party into a
minority in the lower legislative chamber.
The lawmaker also noted that the crisis could
rub on decisions the House might take on any
national issue as from next week when
members would have resumed from their
current annual recess.
Mohammed, who spoke at a pre-resumption
news conference in Abuja, noted that the
lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene on
Tuesday for the 2013-2014 legislative year.
He said the PDP has 208 out of the 360
members of the House, while the All
Progressives Congress controls 137 members.
He, however, explained that 57 out of the 208
PDP members in the House had defected to the
‘new PDP’ faction led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje.
The spokesman said that the development had
therefore made the ‘old PDP’ to become the
minority in the House.
He added, “It is likely that the ‘rebellious’ new
PDP members will team up with the APC
members to decide major issues in the House.
“There are 137 APC members who may choose
to team up with the 57 PDP rebels and become
the majority in the House. So, who is the
minority now?”, he wondered.
Mohammed feared that “this potential danger
of the PDP losing its ground was the reason
the party must act fast to resolve the crisis.”