In an unusual twist, the ruling People’s Democratic Party, which used to be the favourite destination of politicians jumping ships at the Senate, yesterday lost three of its members to the rank of the opposition.
Two of the defecting senators, Adego Eferakeya from Delta State and Joel Danlami from Taraba State moved to the growing Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), while the third, Umar Argungu from Kebbi State joined the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) whose membership is expanding, especially in the northern part of the country. Wednesday’s exodus brings the number of senators who have left the PDP to four in the last one month, a record high in the history of the Senate.
In a letter to the Senate President, David Mark, the three lawmakers blamed their decision to resign their membership of the PDP on the divisions within the party in their various states, and the likelihood of their political ambitions being truncated if they remained in such a party.
This movement brings the number of ACN senators in the senate to seven and raised the population of senators in the opposition to 14, although this is hardly enough to alter the direction of any bill even if they all voted in a plenary.
The senators had concluded the ceremonies for their defections in their home states, yet the formal change of seats by the senators at the floor of the Senate was filled with emotions and revealed the turmoil within the ruling party.
As Mr Mark read out their letters of resignation from the party, one after the other, their former PDP colleagues struggled to either keep them back or, failing that, make them forfeit their seats.
Some of the lawmakers lamented the inability of the PDP to resolve its internal disputes and called on the senate president to intervene.
Read more: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5641037-147/pdp_loses_senators_to_opposition_.csp
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