Imo Deputy Speaker Resigns, Nine Lawmakers Join APC

The Deputy Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Okey Onyekanma, has resigned his position.

Onyekanma announced his resignation in a letter read by the Speaker of the House, Chiji Collins, during plenary on Tuesday at the legislative chamber of the Assembly Complex in Owerri, the state capital.

He informed his colleagues that he has also resigned as the Chairman of the House Committee on Rules and Business.

In the letter, Onyekanma explained that he took the decision to resign due to the zoning arrangement in the state.

According to him, the plan gives the seat of the deputy speaker to a lawmaker from the same zone with the governor and considering the new leadership in the state, he is not from the same zone with the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma.

Meanwhile, nine members of the House have announced their defection from their respective political parties to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The lawmakers were formerly members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Action Alliance (AA), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

They include Authur Egwim (from AA), Chyna Iwuanyanwu (from PDP), Chidiebere Ogbunikpa (from PDP), and Obinna Okwara (from AA).

Others are Paul Emeziem (from PDP), Ekene Nnodimele (from APGA), Johnson Duru (from AA), Ngozi Obiefule (from AA), and Heclus Okoro (from PDP).

One of the defected lawmakers, Nnodimele, had resigned his position as the Minority Leader in the House before joining the ruling APC.

A majority of the lawmakers who defected to the APC blamed their decision on the political crisis in their former parties.