Follow Us on Google
From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja
Fresh defections hit the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in the Senate yesterday, as Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe and Victor Umeh dumped the party for the Labour Party and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), respectively, while Senate Minority Whip, Senator Rufai Hanga, also defected from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the NDC.
The defections were formally communicated through separate letters addressed to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and read during plenary.
In their letters, Abaribe and Umeh cited the lingering leadership tussles and protracted litigation within the ADC as the primary reasons for their exit, noting that the instability within the party has made it an unreliable platform ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Other News
Hanga, in his own move, switched allegiance from the NNPP to the NDC, further swelling the ranks of the relatively new political platform in the Red Chamber.
With the latest developments, the number of serving senators on the platform of the NDC has risen from one to three, including its founder, Senator Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa West), who had earlier defected to the party on March 31, alongside nine other Senators who moved to the ADC.
The fresh round of defections has altered the party’s composition in the Senate, with the All Progressives Congress (APC) maintaining a dominant 88 seats, followed by the ADC with 8, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with 4, NDC with 3, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Accord Party hold one seat each, bringing the total number of occupied seats to 105.
Four seats remain vacant, representing Enugu North, Nasarawa North, Rivers South East and Ondo South, following the deaths of three Senators and the appointment of one to a permanent seat at the United Nations.
