Olushola Omogbehin
Nine senators from different political parties have defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Thursday.
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, read their defection letters on the floor of the Senate during plenary on Thursday.
Akpabio who welcomed the lawmakers to their new political parties, said that the ruling All Progressives Congress was not responsible for the wave of defections.
He said, “Deputy Senate President and Leader of the Senate, I hope you noticed that I have read (defections) from three different political parties now. So, you cannot accuse the ruling party of tampering with its leadership. Here, we have APGA, Labour, SDP, and all of them.
“So, all of them have a problem. They have not been able to put their parties together. So, the APC cannot be blamed for this. They are all out to ensure that we have what you call a minority status in this chamber, and I am very proud of them.”
Some of the defectors include lawmaker representing Sokoto South, Aminu Tambuwal; his Anambra Central Counterpart, Victor Umeh; Tony Nwoye (Anambra North); Abia South Enyinnaya Abaribe; Binos Yaroe (Adamawa South); Lawal Usman (Kaduna Central); Ogoshi Onawo (Nasarawa South); Austin Akobundu (Abia Central); and Ireti Kingibe (Federal Capital Territory).
Umeh said his decision followed the crisis within the leadership of the Labour Party.
“I have taken this decision after wide consultations with my family, constituents, and supporters, in view of the lingering divisions in the leadership and unending litigations pervading the Labour Party in Nigeria.”
Nwoye in his letter attributed his decision to internal crises within the Labour Party.
“I wish to tender my resignation amid the ongoing multiple litigations within the Labour Party, which have significantly affected the cohesion and stability of the party,” his letter read.
With the latest defection, Peoples Democratic Party has seven senators, ADC has seven senators while APC still leads with 87 senators
While Labour Party and Social Democratic Party have no representation in the upper chamber. Other minority parties include the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), each of which has one senator, bringing the total membership of the Senate to 106.
