Akpabio Declares ADC Dead After Defections Hit Coalition Movement
By Olumuyiwa Olumuyiwa
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has mocked the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for not sustaining his status as a formidable opposition party before it collapsed.
Akpabio made the jocular remarks following the wave of defections that saw lawmakers move en masse from the ADC to other political parties, including the Nigerian Democratic Congress and the Labour Party.
He noted that from all indications, the coalition movement is dead.
The Senate President stated this while presiding over plenary on Tuesday.
“Resignation from ADC and declaration for Labour Party. Maybe all those defecting from ADC should just compile everything in one paper and bring, so that we don’t keep announcing, announcing, announcing. Because I think ADC is dead,” Akpabio said, drawing reactions in the chamber.
He continued in a lighter tone, questioning the frequency of political defections by lawmakers.
“How many times can you defect in a month? Once. But some have done three times,” he laughed.
The Senate President suggested a more coordinated system for handling defections, adding that lawmakers should “compile” their movement lists rather than announce them individually on the floor.
“So that it doesn’t look like a daily ritual. If you are defecting from Labour, you write all of you. If you are moving from ADC, you write all of you. If you are entering NDC, you write all of you,” he added.
The comments come amid a fresh political realignment in the National Assembly, where no fewer than 16 members of the House of Representatives have also defected from the ADC to the NDC.
The defections, announced on the floor of the Green Chamber, include lawmakers such as Yusuf Datti, Uchenna Okonkwo, Thaddeus Attah, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, and others.
