Kingibe, who was a member of the LP before defecting to the ADC, represents the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the Senate.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nine senators from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The move was announced on Thursday on the floor of the Senate during plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Those involved include the lawmaker representing Sokoto South, Aminu Tambuwal; his Abia South counterpart, Enyinnaya Abaribe; Ireti Kingibe (Federal Capital Territory); Victor Umeh (Anambra Central); and Tony Nwoye (Anambra North).
Others are Lawal Usman (Kaduna Central), Binos Yaroe (Adamawa South), Mohammed Ogoshi Onawo (Nasarawa South), and Austin Akobundu (Abia Central).
Kingibe, Umeh and Nwoye joined the ADC from the LP; Onawo, Tambuwal, Yaroe, Akobundu and Usman defected from the PDP; while Abaribe joined from APGA.
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Speaking after reading the letters, Akpabio welcomed the lawmakers to their new political platform but seized the opportunity to dismiss suggestions that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was responsible for the wave of defections.
He said, “Deputy Senate President and Leader of the Senate, I hope you noticed that I have read [defections] from three different political parties now. So, you cannot accuse the ruling party of tampering with its leadership. Here, we have APGA, Labour, SDP, and all of them.
”So, all of them have a problem. They’ve not been able to put their parties together. Therefore, the APC cannot be blamed for this. They are all out to ensure that we have what you call a minority status in this chamber, and I am very proud of them.”
As of Thursday, the APC retains a dominant majority with 87 senators, while the ADC now has nine senators in the chamber following the latest defections.
The PDP has dwindled to seven members, while other minority parties—including the APGA, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)—have one senator each, bringing the total membership of the Senate to 106.
Meanwhile, the LP and SDP currently have no representation in the upper chamber following the latest defections.
