The wave of defections in Nigeria’s National Assembly intensified on Wednesday as three senators and five members of the House of Representatives switched political parties, further strengthening the dominance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The defecting senators — Amos Yohanna (Adamawa North), Aminu Iyal Abbas (Adamawa Central) and Ikra Aliyu Bilbis (Zamfara North) — announced their resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in separate letters read during plenary at the Senate.
Following the announcement, Senate President Godswill Akpabio directed the lawmakers to move to the majority side of the chamber, where they joined the APC caucus.
Their defection increases the APC’s strength in the Senate to 84 members, while the PDP’s numbers dropped from 17 to 14.
The development comes barely 24 hours after Senator Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, representing Rivers West, also dumped the PDP for the APC.
A similar development occurred in the House of Representatives, where four lawmakers defected to the APC from the PDP and the Labour Party (Nigeria).
Their defection letters were read during plenary by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas.
The lawmakers include Inuwa Garba and Abdullahi El-Rasheed from Gombe State, Joshua Chinedu Obika representing AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the Federal Capital Territory, and Mohammed Audu from Taraba State.
In a separate move, Adewale Adebayo of Osogbo Federal Constituency in Osun State defected from the PDP to the Accord Party (Nigeria).
Reacting to the latest political realignments, Akpabio described the trend as a reversal of events witnessed during the Eighth National Assembly when several APC lawmakers defected to the PDP.
According to him, the current shift reflects confidence in the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“To me, what is happening now between PDP and APC senators is more of a one–one draw. In 2018, during the Eighth National Assembly, about 30 senators defected from the APC to PDP in one day,” Akpabio said.
“Now in the 10th National Assembly, it is the other way round, with PDP senators moving in large numbers to the APC.”
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele also said the steady movement of lawmakers into the ruling party indicates growing confidence in the administration.
“The defectors are not daft. They have seen that something is working in the country for the good of all, which they believe they must be part of within the APC caucus,” Bamidele said.
Meanwhile, Bayelsa West Senator Seriake Dickson remains the only senator representing the newly registered Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
Out of the constitutionally mandated 109 seats in the Senate, only 106 are currently occupied following the deaths of senators Godiya Akwashiki (Nasarawa North), Okechukwu Ezea (Enugu North) and Barinada Mpigi (Rivers South East), whose seats remain vacant.