The majority control of the All Progressives Congress in the Senate is currently under threat as no fewer than 20 APC senators have concluded plans to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party and others.
The PUNCH learnt that the APC, which had earlier lost 13 senators to the opposition parties, might lose more parliamentarians aggrieved for losing their return tickets to the National Assembly during the party primaries.
It was gathered that the party leaders were worried that if the rate of defections continued and the opposition PDP gained more members, the ruling party might lose its majority status in the Senate.
During Wednesday’s plenary, Senator Dauda Jika representing Bauchi Central, announced his defection to the NNPP, bringing the number of APC senators to 67.
Currently, the five minority parties in the upper chamber have 43 senators with the PDP boasting 39 senators, while the Young Peoples Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Labour Party and the New Nigeria People’s Party have four senators.
To stem the gale of defections, the National Chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, met with the APC senators behind closed doors at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, some minutes past 2 pm on Wednesday
Adamu, who first went to the office of the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, for a brief meeting before the general meeting, said that the party was worried by the wave of the defections among the APC senators.
Speaking to journalists after his meeting with the APC caucus, he noted that it was a usual occurrence during the election period but it was enough for any leader to worry over the loss of any member.
He stated, “The meeting with the senators was most fruitful. The issue of defection is an unfortunate development when it happens but this is a season where there are all sorts of behaviour in the political space and ours is not an exception.
“In every election year, this kind of thing gives cause for stakeholders to sneeze and Nigeria is not an exception so is the APC, not an exception. I don’t care about what is happening in other parties, my focus is on the APC. But we all know that the occurrence is not only happening in the APC, it’s happening across other political parties too. And because we are the ruling party, our problems are exaggerated before the public.”
Adamu also said he did not know if the problem of defection would persist in the party but he had met with his colleagues at the National Assembly and he believed the issue was surmountable.
He added, “There is no responsible leader that would not be worried when he loses one member not to talk of two. At the moment we are faced with the stark reality of our problems. I have committed my colleagues at the National Assembly to face the problem squarely and see the problem as solvable. We are in politics, I don’t know what would happen tomorrow, and nobody does.”Meanwhile, a lawmaker who spoke to one of our correspondents on the condition of anonymity, stated that the party chairman had to come down to the National Assembly to dissuade the senators from defecting from the ruling APC.According to the source, not lesser than 20 senators intend to leave the APC to other parties, particularly the PDP within the next week.The source said, “The party chairman came to have a meeting with the APC senators because he said that they learnt through intelligence that not lesser than 20 more senators were planning to defect to other parties within the next one week.“The chairman asked each of the aggrieved senators to lay bare their grievances which we all did one after the other. Having heard our problems, the chairman instructed that we put them into writing.”The lawmaker also stated that Adamu promised that the party would look into the issues raised and do something about it as it was a dangerous time for lawmakers in the party to defect because it was the election year and such moves were grave for any political party.The source added, “The chairman asked us all to put all of our complaints into writing after which the APC caucus leaders would sit with the National Working Committee and look into the issues raised.“Senator Adamu further stated the party would then see what it can do to help the situation. He, however, stated that lawmakers who do not feel comfortable with the help provided by the parties can then leave. But leaving without proper consultations with the party sends a wrong signal of discord. It presents the party as if in disarray and without proper leadership.”
“This is an election year and it’s not good to present the party as having leadership issues,” the source quoted Adamu to have said.The PUNCH reports that there has been a wave of defections across the APC senatorial seats.A number of the APC senators had cross-carpeted to other parties due to their failure to secure a return ticket to the NASS with many of them alleging that their states’ governors hijacked the senatorial primary elections.In the past week since the resumption of the plenary, not less than six senators have sent their defection letters to the Senate President.They include the Majority Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi representing Kebbi North senatorial district, who defected to the PDP.Abdullahi alleged that the democratic challenges and deficits in Kebbi State did not just start from the last congresses, but from July last year “when the governor illegally decapitated the state leadership of the party, imposed unelected ward, local government and state executives of the party.”He stated in his defection letter to the Senate, “At a point, I thought of resort to the courts, but decided against that course of action after realising that political challenges require political solutions in the democratic arena where it is the people and not the judges who are the final arbiters.“I came to this decision after a very hard struggle with my conscience and emotions. It is either to remain on the side of my people or to selfishly look the other way. All politics is local. I cannot therefore in good conscience, continue to work for the success of this administration at the centre while the people of my state, my primary constituency, continue to wallow in abject poverty and destitution under the misrule and manipulation of a despot.“I have, therefore, decided to pitch my tent with the Peoples Democratic Party to join forces with my compatriots at home who are struggling against incompetence, imposition and violation of democratic norms, principles and practices.”
