Three more Senators dump PDP for APC

2026-03-11 - 14:57

By Henry Umoru Ahead of the 2027 Presidential and general elections, three Senators have dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, read the letters of the three Senators. They are Senators Amos Yunana, Adamawa North; Aminu Iya Abbas, Adamawa Central and Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, Zamfara Central. The action of the Senators is coming barely 24 hours after that of Senator Banigo Ipalibo, Rivers West, from the same PDP to APC on Tuesday, depleted its membership in the Senate from 17 to 14 and increased those on the APC platform from 81 to 84. Happy with the movement of Senators from the PDP to the APC , the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, in his remarks after the new APC Senators were moved from the left side of the aisle to the right side in the chamber, said that it was unprecedented since 1960 when Nigeria became Independent. According to him, the current wave of defections from the PDP ranks into the APC is the opposite of what happened in the 8th Senate, specifically in 2018, when the APC lost many of its Senators to PDP, including the then-President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki. He said, ” To me, what is happening now between PDP and APC Senators is more of a 1 – 1 draw because in 2018, during the 8th National Assembly , about 30 Senators in one day defected from APC to PDP . “Now, during the 10th National Assembly , it is the other way round , PDP Senators are the ones defecting in multitude into APC for obvious reasons of good governance being rendered at the centre by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has rescued the Nation’s economy from bankruptcy to buoyancy with very bold decisions and reforms.” Earlier in his comments, the leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Ekiti Central, who noted that the continuous defection of Senators from PDP and other minority parties into APC clearly shows that the Nigeria project is working under President Tinubu, said, “The defectors are not daft . They have seen that something is working in the country for the good of all , which they believe must be among the active participants within the APC caucus.” The configuration of Senators on the platform of political parties now, as against what it was in June 2023 when the 10th National Assembly started, is APC 84 from 59, PDP 14 from 36, Labour Party 0 from 8, NNPP 1 from 2, SDP 0 from 2, and APGA 1. The African Democratic Congress ( ADC ), which had no Senator at the beginning of the 10th National Assembly in June 2023 , now has 5, while the newly registered Nigeria Democratic Congress ( NDC) has 1 in the person of Senator Seriake Dickson ( Bayelsa West). The total number of serving senators is now 106, as against the constitutional 109. The remaining three seats are those of Nasarawa North, which became vacant following the death of Senator Godiya Akwashiki; Enugu North, which also became vacant due to the death of Senator Okechukwu Ezea; and Rivers South East, which became vacant due to the demise of Senator Barinada Mpigi. Vanguard News