Former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, has described the defection of Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as organised crime.
Naijaonpoint reports that Chinda’s defection was announced on Tuesday when the Speaker of the House read the letter during plenary.
According to the Speaker, the letter notifying the House of Chinda’s decision to leave the PDP for the APC was dated April 23, 2026.
The announcement formally confirmed weeks of speculation surrounding the Rivers lawmaker’s political future.
Reacting to the development, Odinkalu, in a post via his 𝕏 handle, asserted that Chinda was selected as the APC governorship candidate for Rivers State while he was still serving as Minority Leader on the PDP platform.
According to him, efforts may be made to legitimise the situation through the courts, but he insisted that no court ruling could justify the circumstances surrounding Chinda’s move to the ruling party.
He wrote: “Today, the speaker of @HouseNGR has announced the defection of my good friend, @OKChinda, from @OfficialPDPNig to @OfficialAPCNg.
“It is claimed he also now ceases to be #MinorityLeader of the House. They back-dated the letter of notification to 23 April.
“Last month, while still the Minority Leader of the House, Chinda was selected to be the candidate of the ruling @OfficialAPCNg for governorship of Rivers State in #NigeriaDecides2027.
“I am sure they have lined up their #FullyOwned judges to make this look kosher with a suitable court order. But no amount of #CourtWashing can clean this up. It is #OrganizedCrime. Period!”
