The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda, has vacated his leadership seat and crossed the aisle from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The announcement was made by the Speaker of the House, Abbas Tajudeen, during Tuesday’s plenary session on June 2, 2026, as the legislature reconvened from a month-long recess.
The break had allowed lawmakers to participate in their respective parties’ primary elections ahead of the 2027 general polls.
Abbas’s formal notification effectively puts an end to weeks of uncertainty regarding Chinda’s political status.
Despite winning the APC’s governorship ticket in Rivers State during the recess, the lawmaker had not previously made a public declaration of his defection or resignation on the floor of the House.
The Speaker revealed that Chinda’s resignation letter, which was submitted some time ago, actually backdated his departure from the minority leadership to April 23, 2026.
In the correspondence, the lawmaker expressed deep appreciation for the chance to lead the opposition caucus and contribute to the legislative progress of the House under the current leadership.
Chinda’s defection comes on the heels of his emergence as the consensus gubernatorial candidate for the APC in Rivers State.
He secured the ticket with 268,497 votes on May 21, following the dramatic last-minute withdrawal of major contenders, including the incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Before this official announcement, the lawmaker’s dual status as an APC candidate and a PDP minority leader sparked intense legal and legislative debates.
Critics argued that holding a principal opposition office while belonging to the ruling party was inconsistent with parliamentary procedures and constitutional provisions regarding legislative defections.
Despite being a key highlight of Tuesday’s sitting, Chinda was noticeably absent during the plenary.
With his resignation already in place, the leadership of the opposition is expected to be vacant right away, thus the need for further deliberations on who will succeed him.
A PDP spokesperson confirmed that Chinda privately resigned his membership from the party prior to purchasing the APC nomination forms, a move that allowed him to qualify for the primary process.
With the formal declaration now on the legislative record, the House of Representatives is expected to initiate the process of selecting a new Minority Leader in the coming days.
