Ayade’s Defection Regrettable, Unfortunate – Orbih

South-South zonal chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Dan Orbih, has described Thursday’s defection of Cross River Governor Ben Ayade to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as regrettable and unfortunate.

Orbih said it was a shame Ayade would leave the PDP for a party he alleged has unleashed hardship on Nigerians in the last couple of years.

He called on the National Assembly to enact a law that would make swapping of political parties premised on defined conditions.

He said: “It (Ayade’s defection) is regrettable and unfortunate. How can you leave a party on whose platform you won the governorship for another that has unleashed hardship on millions of Nigerians?

“It is time for lawmakers to come out clear on this. You can’t ride the platform of a party to success and turn around to take the mandate away to another party.

“A law should come up to state clearly that if an elected leader is leaving the party on whose platform he was elected; he should relinquish the mandate. This will help sanitize our politics,” he said.