By George Mgbeleke<\/p>\n
The number of All Progressives Congress senators in the National Assembly swelled to 70 on Wednesday following the defection of four senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to the All Progressives Congress(APC)<\/p>\n
The senators\u2014Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East), Oluwole Olubiyi (Osun Central), Aniekan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North East), and Ekong Samson (Akwa Ibom South)\u2014formally announced their exit from the PDP during plenary.<\/p>\n
Their resignation letters were read on the Senate floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who directed the Clerk of the Senate to officially record the defections.<\/p>\n
With the latest switch, the composition of the 10th Senate now stands as follows: APC 70, PDP 28, Labour Party 5, New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) 1, Social Democratic Party (SDP) 2, and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) 1.<\/p>\n
The defections were witnessed by top APC officials, including the National Secretary of the party, Senator Ajibola Basiru, former Minister of Labour and Productivity Senator Chris Ngige, and some members of the House of Representatives who were present in solidarity.<\/p>\n
Observers believe the development is a major political upset for the PDP, particularly in Akwa Ibom State, historically considered a party stronghold. Conversely, the APC is expected to consolidate further control in the region.<\/p>\n
In his resignation letter, Senator Aniekan Bassey invoked Sections 40 and 68(1)(g) of the Nigerian Constitution and said his defection was \u201cdeeply considered\u201d and \u201cimperative.”<\/p>\n
“This decision has become imperative in view of the prevailing political developments both in my constituency and within the party structure, which has been fractured beyond redemption,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Bassey acknowledged the PDP for the platform it had provided but emphasised that his move was in the \u201coverall interest\u201d of his constituents in Akwa Ibom North East.<\/p>\n
Reacting to the defections, Senate President Akpabio, a former Governor of Akwa Ibom and leading APC figure, dramatically welcomed Bassey.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenator Aniekan Abasi has now joined the APC. I welcome him with open arms. He has depleted the rank and file of the left-hand side to populate the right-hand side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Senator Samson Ekong also defended his decision, linking it to political shifts in Akwa Ibom.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitics is a game of interest, and if I may add, circumstances,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Akwa Ibom State, the earth has moved with the convergence of principal political players on the APC platform. My people have high hopes for commensurate reward systems from the APC power matrix,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ekong further cited the defection of Akwa Ibom Governor Pastor Umoh Eno to the APC and the mass alignment of political stakeholders in the state with the ruling party as key motivators.<\/p>\n
Welcoming the defectors, Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele said, \u201cI sincerely welcome our colleagues to the All Progressives Congress. This cannot be the end, more are coming.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By George Mgbeleke The number of All Progressives Congress senators in the National Assembly swelled to 70 on Wednesday following the defection of four senators from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to the All Progressives Congress(APC) The senators\u2014Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East), Oluwole Olubiyi (Osun Central), Aniekan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North East), and Ekong Samson (Akwa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2344,3711,3710,939,280,3712],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-alignment","tag-commensurate-reward","tag-motivators","tag-opposition","tag-stakeholders","tag-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5703,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5702\/revisions\/5703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}