Senate President Godswill Akpabio stated that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is "dead" following a series of defections from the party. The remark came Tuesday during plenary after Akpabio read Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe's resignation letter, confirming his exit from the ADC and defection to the Labour Party. Abaribe cited ongoing lawsuits and court judgments affecting the ADC as the reason for his move, though he emphasized that his decision did not reflect any personal issues with party members or leadership.
Akpabio urged lawmakers to submit collective defection notices instead of individual ones for efficiency. "All those defecting from ADC should just compile everything in one paper so that we don't keep announcing. I think ADC is dead," he said. Senator Victor Umeh also left the ADC to join the National Democratic Congress (NDC), while Senator Rufai Hanga defected from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to the NDC.
At the House of Representatives, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas announced multiple defections. Yusuf Datti, Uchenna Okonkwo, Adamu Wakili, Thaddeus Attah, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, Oluwaseyi Sowunmi, Peter Aniekwe, Mukhtar Zakari, George Oluwande, and Munachim Umezuruike all moved from the ADC to the NDC. Others making the same switch include Emeka Idu, Jesse Onuakalusi, Ifeanyi Uzokwe, Afam Ogene, and Abdulhakeem Ado. Leke Abejide, representing Yagba Federal Constituency in Kogi State, defected from the ADC to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akpabio declares the ADC dead while still allowing its members to occupy legislative seats. If the party is already non-functional in the Senate President's view, why are its members only now being counted in new affiliations? Their continued presence in chambers under a supposedly dead party undermines procedural clarity. This realignment spectacle benefits individual lawmakers more than it serves public accountability.
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