The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, has said it is not bothered by the defection of the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
recalls that Blessing Agbebaku, and two other serving lawmakers, Yekini Idaiye and Sunday Fada Eigbiremonlen, representing Akoko-Edo I and Esan Central constituencies, joined the speaker to defect to APC on Tuesday, 6, 2025 in Benin City.
Speaking on the defection on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at a press conference in Benin City, Dr Tony Aziegbemi, the State Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Party, described the Speaker’s defection as not motivated by ideology or conviction but by personal ambition and self-preservation.
Aziegbemi also alleged that what played out at the rally was nothing more than a desperate spectacle, designed to impress the President and APC national leadership, an “illusion worthy of a David Copperfield performance.
“The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, finds it laughable indeed, comical that the All Progressives Congress would roll out the drums to celebrate what it calls the “defection” of Rt. Hon. Blessing Agbebaku, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, when in truth, Agbebaku has long operated as a covert APC loyalist.
“Tuesday’s stage-managed fanfare in Benin City was not news. It was merely the official coronation of what had become a public secret. For months, Agbebaku has served the interests of the APC in both conduct and allegiance.
Let it be remembered that under Agbebaku’s leadership, and in collaboration with Monday Okpebholo and the Edo APC, elected local government council chairmen, overwhelmingly PDP members were illegally suspended.
“Despite the expiration of that unconstitutional suspension, Agbebaku refused to reinstate them, acting with clear partisan bias. If ever there was evidence of his real political affiliation, this was it.
“Agbebaku’s formal alignment with the APC is a textbook case of political opportunism—motivated not by ideology or conviction, but by personal ambition and self-preservation. While the APC celebrates this, we in the PDP remain unbothered. Men who stand for nothing will always fall for anything.
