Abaribe gets one- week ultimatum to give evidence of APGA expulsion
A gale of defections yesterday hit the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the National Assembly.
Nine senators dumped the PDP for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), citing the protracted leadership crisis that has polarised the platform.
The defections has catapulted the ADC as the most dominant opposition party in the Senate.
The ADC now has 9 senators, PDP down to six, APGA 1, Accord1, NNPP 1, NNDC 1, SDP 0, LP 0, with three seats vacant.
The ADC has an overwhelming majority of his seven senators.
The defectors, whose letters of defections were read by Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary, are Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (PDP – Sokoto South), Binos Dauda Yaroe (PDP – Adamawa South), Lawal Adamu Usman (PDP – Kaduna Central), Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (PDP – Nasarawa South), and Augustine Akobundu (PDP – Abia Central).
There was mild drama over the defections of LP Senators Victor Umeh (Anambra Central), Tony Nwoye (Anambra North) and Ireti Kingibe (FCT) to the ADC which sparked a constitutional debate because senators said their no more division in the LP.
Also, APGA Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) left for ADC, Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa) moved from PDP to Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) and Deputy Minority Leader Lere Oyewumi (Osun West) moved to the Accord Party.
Abaribe’s defection sparks constitutional debate
The biggest issue yesterday was Abaribe’s defection.
Akpabio, who tried to douse the tension, said the Senate would examine the letters carefully to determine whether the constitutional requirements had been met.
The Senate President said: “You notice that I have read letters from three different political parties. So, you cannot accuse the ruling party of tampering with their leadership because here, you have APGA, Labour Party and PDP. All of them appear to have internal problems.”
Akpabio directed that the letters should be scrutinised to determine whether any of the defections violated constitutional provisions.
He said: “You may wish to check the letters and see if there is any of them where there is no division in their political party. In line with the Constitution, I think they ought to lose their seats.”
Following the directive, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin (Kano North), cited Order 20 of the Senate’s Standing Orders to puncture Abaribe’s defection from APGA.
Barau stressed: “Mr President, as directed by you, I have gone through the letters forwarded to you and read by you on defections of the nine senators from some minority parties into ADC, but strongly observed that one of the parties, APGA, where Abaribe defected from, is not engulfed by any crisis or division, particularly at the National level.
“Abaribe’s defection, as clearly stated in Section 68 (1b and g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is clearly against the provisions of the law and warrants you to do the needful as far as Abia South Senatorial seat is concerned.”
The section read by Barau states: “ (1) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if – (a) he becomes a member of another legislative house.
“(b) any other circumstances arise that, if he were not a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, would cause him to be disqualified for election as a member;
“(g) If he/ she defects from the political party that sponsored him for the election without the party having divisions.”
Echoing the Deputy Senate President’s observation, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (Edo North) raised a constitutional point of order, saying that the Constitution permits lawmakers to defect without losing their seats only if there is a division within the party that sponsored their election.
He said: “Those moving from the PDP may have a reason because we know there are factions in the party. But there is no division in APGA and there is no division in the Labour Party. The Constitution is very clear on this.”
Abaribe claimed that he was expelled from APGA since September last year, adding that the Constitution does not specifically address situations where a lawmaker is removed from his party.
He said: “This Section (68) does not in any way cover the position where somebody is sacked from his party. I was sacked from my party in September 2025 and I have the letter here.”
However, Akpabio said the Senate had not received any official documentation confirming the claim.
He told the Abia South senator: “You have confirmed that you are not leaving because of any division, but because of a supposed sack. The Senate is not yet aware of that. We don’t have evidence of that here.”
Akpabio gave Abaribe one week to provide documentary evidence of his alleged expulsion from APGA.
He said: “Let us give Senator Abaribe one week to produce evidence of his dismissal.”
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said the development raised serious constitutional issue on qualification and disqualification of lawmakers.
He said the purported Abaribe’s sack from APGA in September last year is even enough grounds for his seat to be declared vacant as stated in Section 68 (1b) of the 1999 Constitution
Bamidele noted that the Constitution clearly outlines the circumstances under which a member of the National Assembly can defect without losing his seat.
He added: “Section 65 of the Constitution establishes the qualification for election into the Senate, while Section 68 establishes the circumstances under which a member shall vacate his seat. These provisions must guide whatever decision we take.”
The Senate leadership resolved to revisit the issue at a later sitting after Abaribe has submitted the evidence supporting his claim of expulsion from APGA.
In the House of Representatives, 12 lawmakers from PDP, LP, NNDP, and Young Peoples Party (YPP) defected to the APC and ADC.
The defectors from PDP to APC are James Barka (Adamawa), Kwamoti Bitrus Laori (Adamawa), Zakaria Nyampa (Adamawa), Kobis Thimnu (Adamawa), Midala Balami (Borno) and Mohammed Bargaja (Sokoto).
Those who defected to the ADC are Afam Victor Ogene (LP-Anambra),Peter Aniekwe (YPP-Anambra) Lilian Orogbu (LP-Anambra) Jessey Onakalusi (LP- Lagos) and Murphy Osaro Omoruyi (LP-Edo).
Following the defections, the number of APC lawmakers rose to 268 and the number of PDP legislators decreased to 49.
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided at the plenary, said eight lawmakers have put the Lower Chamber on notice about defection plans.
In Adamawa State, Adamu Atiku, son of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who recently resigned as commissioner from the Ahmadu Fintiri government, quit the PDP for ADC.
ADC may become main opposition party
The ADC may likely emerge as the main opposition party in Senate.
A source said Abaribe may have been penciled down to be the new Senate Minority Leader, a position he occupied during the 9th Senate.
Impact of defections:
The defections has increased the number of APC Senators to 87 (including those yet to switch parties on the floor) and reduced PDP Senators to seven.
The total number of Senators in the 10th Senate is 106. Three seats – Nasarawa North, Enugu North and Rivers South East – are vacant due to the deaths of senators who occupied the seats.
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