…PDP now majority party in Senate
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, on Tuesday read a letter from 13 members of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) senators declaring their defection from the ruling APC to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Senators that joined the PDP are: Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano); Rafiu Ibrahim (Kwara); Shaba Lafiagi (Kwara); Bayero Nafada (Gombe); Ubale Shittu (Jigawa); Dino Melaye (Kogi); Abdullahi Danbaba (Sokoto); Isa Hamma Misau (Bauchi); Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi); Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduna); Barnabas Gemade (Benue) and Lanre Tejuoso (Ogun).
Monsurat Sumonu (Oyo) and Abdulaziz Nyako (Adamawa) opted for the ADC.
Also, thirty seven members of the House of Representatives formerly of the APC have dumped the party and moved to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC)
The Representatives in a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara officially announced their defection during plenary on Tuesday.
Top on the list of the defectors is the Chairman Committee on Rules and Business Rep. Emmanuel Orker-Jev (Benue).
Of the 37 defectors, 33 went to the PDP while four others from Oyo state moved to ADC.
Other prominent members who dumped the APC include: Sani Rano, Barry Mpigi, Ali madaki, Dickson Tackighir, Hassan Saleh, Danburam Nuhu, Mark Gbilah, Razak Atunwa, Ahmed Garba Bichi, Abdulsamad Dasuk and Zakari Mohammed.
However, the APC still remains in the majority in the Lower House.
APC has 185 members including the Speaker, PDP has 161, APGA has 5 members, ADC has 4 while SDP, LP and AP have one seat each.
Before Tuesday, the APC caucus had 64 members; the PDP caucus had 42, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance had one.
Two seats are vacant. They are those of senators Ali Wakili (Bauchi-South) and Mustapha Bukar (Katsina-North), who died a few months ago. Both of them were APC members.
Based on the number of lawmakers who have written to the Senate to formalise their defection, the PDP now has the majority with 55 members, with the APC having 50, and APGA and ADC having Senators Victor Umeh (Anambra-Central) and Murtala-Nyako, respectively.
Senators Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo) and Fatimah Raji-Rasaki (PDP, Ekiti) have yet to declare on the floor to formalise their defection to the APC but have been attending the party’s meetings and events.
Also, Senator Sunny Ogbuoji (PDP, Ebonyi) had recently introduced himself as the “the newest catch” of the APC when the National Working Committee of the party met with the Senate Caucus. He has yet to declare it in plenary.
Similarly, Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra) has joined APGA in Anambra State but has yet to make a formal declaration.
