Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has suggested that the African Democratic Congress may have lost its relevance following a spate of defections by its members.
Speaking during Tuesday’s plenary, Akpabio reacted to the growing number of lawmakers leaving the party for other platforms, particularly the National Democratic Congress and the Labour Party.
The development was highlighted on the Senate floor with the announcement of fresh defections, including that of Victor Umeh, who has now aligned with the NDC.
Expressing concern over the frequency of such movements, Akpabio said: “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.
“How many times can you defect in a month? Once. But some have done three times.”
He further proposed that defections be consolidated and submitted collectively to avoid repetitive announcements during plenary sessions.
“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.”
Akpabio also made a lighthearted reference to Enyinnaya Abaribe’s multiple party switches, saying, “Note that Senator Abaribe has moved from APGA to ADC, and now he has moved from ADC to Labour Party,” he joked.
Meanwhile, similar developments were recorded in the House of Representatives, where at least 17 lawmakers formally defected from the ADC to the NDC during Tuesday’s plenary.
The legislators, drawn from Kano, Anambra, Lagos, Edo and Rivers states, cited persistent internal disputes within the party as the reason for their decision.
According to their letters, the defections were driven by what they described as “unresolved crises from the national to ward levels” in the ADC.
