PORT HARCOURT—The  25 pro-Governor Rotimi Amaechi lawmakers in Rivers State, have dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for All Progressives Congress, APC, during the sitting of the state  House of Assembly, yesterday, at the old auditorium of Government House, Port Harcourt.

Leader of the House, Mr. Chidi Lloyd, who announced their decision to decamp, said they had all ceased to be members of  PDP.

He said: “The 25 pro-Amaechi lawmakers have asked me to declare our formal defection to APC. Henceforth, 25 of us should be referred to as APC members. We are telling the world today (yesterday) that we are all members of APC. All correspondence to us should describe us as APC members.”

Speaker of the House, Mr. Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, who presided over the sitting, directed that their action should be documented.

About 14 of them were present at the sitting.

The development came one year after the free for all amongst members of the House at the  chamber of the Assembly complex on Moscow Road.

The House has since the incident been divided along the lines of pro and anti- Amaechi lawmakers.

Mr Evans Bipi is Speaker of the six anti-Amaechi lawmakers. They have continued to boycott every sitting of the pro-Amaechi lawmakers at the old auditorium of Government House, Port Harcourt.

Meanwhile, one of the pro-Amaechi lawmakers, Mr. Golden Chioma, who was kidnapped by gunmen, has been freed by his captors in the early hours of yesterday. It could not be confirmed if any ransom was paid for his release.