Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday joked that the African Democratic Congress was effectively dead following a fresh wave of defections that saw lawmakers move en masse to other political parties, including the Nigerian Democratic Congress and the Labour Party.
Akpabio made the remark while presiding over plenary, shortly after the Senate formally announced the defection of lawmakers, including Victor Umeh, who joined the NDC, citing internal crises and “unending litigation” within the ADC.
“Resignation from ADC and declaration for Labour Party. Maybe all those defecting from ADC should just compile everything in one paper and bring, so that we don’t keep announcing, announcing, announcing. Because I think ADC is dead,” Akpabio said, drawing reactions in the chamber.
He continued in a lighter tone, questioning the frequency of political defections by lawmakers
“How many times can you defect in a month? Once. But some have done three times,” he laughed.
The Senate President suggested a more coordinated system for handling defections, adding that lawmakers should “compile” their movement lists rather than announce them individually on the floor.
“So that it doesn’t look like a daily ritual. If you are defecting from Labour, you write all of you. If you are moving from ADC, you write all of you. If you are entering NDC, you write all of you,” he added.
During the sitting, Akpabio also read a defection letter from Enyinnaya Abaribe, noting his movement across parties in recent years.
“Note that Senator Abaribe has moved from APGA to ADC, and now he has moved from ADC to Labour Party,” he said, before joking that future announcements would no longer be read individually.
The comments come amid a fresh political realignment in the National Assembly, where no fewer than 16 members of the House of Representatives have also defected from the ADC to the NDC.
The defections, announced on the floor of the Green Chamber, include lawmakers such as Yusuf Datti, Uchenna Okonkwo, Thaddeus Attah, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, and others.
Umeh, in his resignation letter at the Senate, cited “lingering divisions in the leadership and unending litigation” in the ADC, saying the situation made continued membership untenable.
“I remain committed to making my contributions towards the development of our dear nation, but this time through the NDC,” he wrote.
