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Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said he believes the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is ‘dead,’ following a wave of defections that saw lawmakers move to other political parties, including the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Labour Party (LP).
Akpabio made the remark on Tuesday 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, which drew reactions in the chamber.
He proceeded 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 said.
During the plenary session, 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 follow 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 House of Representatives, 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.
