Senate President Godswill Akpabio stated on Tuesday that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) was effectively "dead" following a surge in defections by lawmakers. His remark came during Senate plenary after the chamber confirmed the departure of Victor Umeh, who joined the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), citing leadership divisions and ongoing litigation in the ADC. Akpabio, presiding over the session, described the repeated defections as disruptive to legislative work and urged lawmakers to coordinate announcements of party movement. He referenced Enyinnaya Abaribe's history of party switches, questioning the frequency of such moves. The ADC has lost multiple members in both chambers, with at least 16 lawmakers, including Yusuf Datti, Uchenna Okonkwo, Thaddeus Attah, George Ozodinobi and Lilian Orogbu, exiting to the NDC in the House of Representatives. Umeh's resignation letter cited "lingering divisions in the leadership and unending litigation" as reasons for his exit. The mass departures have intensified scrutiny over the ADC's stability and future electoral relevance.
Akpabio declares the ADC dead while presiding over a Senate session that normalises the very instability he criticises. Lawmakers like Victor Umeh and 16 others have already abandoned the ADC, citing internal chaos the Senate President now publicly mocks. This exodus reflects a pattern where legislative leaders benefit politically from party collapses they do nothing to prevent. Nigerians watching these shifts see not principle, but convenience dressed as political survival.
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