Defections: APC senators grow to 70

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) now has comfortable majority of the lawmakers in the National Assembly.

Out of the 109 senators in the Upper Chamber, the ruling party now has 70, while the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has 38 and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) has one.

This followed the defection of the three senators from Zamfara State with Governor Bello Matawalle from the PDP to APC.

The governor’s defection has generated jubilation and furore between APC and PDP leaders.

While the ruling party has commended the governor and other defectors for their progressive step, the PDP has picked holes in the action of the politicians.

The PDP said Matawalle and other governors defected from the PDP to the APC because they allegedly have skeletons in their cupboards.

The opposition also described the defectors as “feeble-minded politicians” and “rejected corrupt persons”.

In a statement yesterday in Abuja by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP described APC’s current victory as “pyrrhic”, adding that the lifespan of the ruling party will not extend beyond the end of the President’s “abysmal tenure” on May 29, 2023.

The APC yesterday dismissed as baseless, PDP’s allegation that the ruling party planned to rig the 2023 general elections.

It said its achievements would ensure electoral victory at the polls.

PDP National Chairman Uche Secondus, who was reacting to Matawalle’s defection from the opposition to the ruling APC, accused the ruling party of planning to rig the 2023 general elections.

APC’s Secretary of the Caretaker Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, in a statement yesterday in Abuja, said the opposition was only panicky as it has become overwhelmed and threatened by APC track records.

“The APC rejects the allegation of planned rigging in 2023 by the National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus. The APC’s track record in implementing projects and programmes that meet the needs of Nigerians is attracting more members, supporters, and sympathisers from all over the country into the party.

“Strong internal democracy, transparency, and fairness in the conduct of its affairs, which are demonstrably lacking in the PDP, are additional reasons that make the APC a better option for Nigerians, including serving governors, National, and state Assembly members who are abandoning the PDP and joining the APC.”