•As PDP loses another Senator to APC

From Adesuwa Tsan, Abuja

President Bola Tinubu has written to the Senate seeking confirmation of Professor Joash Amupitan as the new National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The request was contained in a letter read on the floor of the Senate yesterday by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, at the commencement of plenary. Tinubu urged the lawmakers to give the nomination urgent consideration and approval.

In his remarks, Akpabio referred the request to the Committee of the Whole for further legislative action.

Similarly, in a separate letter, the President informed the Senate of the nomination of a former member of the House of Representatives, Ayo Omidiran, as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), alongside 28 others as Federal Commissioners.

Akpabio, after reading the letter, also referred the nominations to the Committee of the Whole for legislative action “as soon as practicable.”

The Senate President said the requests would receive the chamber’s prompt attention in line with its constitutional responsibility to screen and confirm presidential nominees.

Meanwhile, the numerical strength of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Senate reduced further yesterday following the defection of Senator Kaila Dahuwa Samaila (Bauchi North) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a letter addressed to the Senate President and read during plenary, Kaila attributed his defection to what he called ‘unending crisis’ within the PDP, which he said had crippled the party’s internal cohesion and made it difficult to continue as a member.

His defection brings the APC’s total number of senators to 74, while the PDP now has 27. Other parties represented in the Red Chamber include the Labour Party with 4 senators, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) with 2, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with 1, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) with 1, bringing the total to 109 senators.