Another PDP senator defects to APC

The senator representing Zamfara Central Senatorial District, Hassan Gusau, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mr Gusau announced his decision on Tuesday.

His decision was conveyed in a letter which was read out by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the start of the plenary.

In the letter dated June 28, the senator stated the collapse of internal democracy in the PDP as part of his reasons to leave.

“I write to notify the Senate of my resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with the effect of the date (June 28).

“My decision is necessitated due to the collapse of internal democracy and functionalisation of the party from ward levels In Zamfara state.

“Further decision of my party affiliation will be communicated to this chamber in due course,” the letter read.

His defection comes barely three days after a presidential aide, Bashir Ahmed, suggested that the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle, had left the PDP for APC. The governor is yet to formally announce his defection.

Should Mr Matawalle finally join the APC, he would be the third PDP governor to join the APC in the past seven months. The other two are the governors of Ebonyi and Cross River.

The PDP has condemned the planned defection of Mr Matawalle, warning that he risks losing his seat should he do so.

The defection of key political players like governors and senators, from one party to the other, is commonplace in Nigerian politics and no governor has previously lost his seat because he changed parties.