PDP MOVES TO RECLAIM SEATS AS KEBBI SENATORS DEFECT TO APC
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to challenge in court the defection of its elected lawmakers to the All Progressives Congress (APC), beginning with the three senators from Kebbi State who dramatically switched allegiance after a closed-door meeting with President Bola Tinubu last week. Citing Section 109(1)(g) of the Constitution, party officials say they are initiating legal proceedings to have the lawmakers’ seats declared vacant.
The senators—Adamu Aliero, Yahaya Abdullahi, and Garba Maidoki—joined the APC alongside several northern power brokers after high-level consultations at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Their move, interpreted as a consolidation of Tinubu’s influence in the North West, came just days after PDP’s National Working Committee met in Abuja and resolved to tackle what it termed “the trading away” of its mandates.
APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, defended the wave of defections, promising smooth integration into the party’s structures and dismissing fears of an emerging one-party state. “A one-party state is not imposed; it emerges when people make free choices,” he said, adding that political fragmentation in Nigeria has hindered governance for too long. Ganduje confirmed that the senators’ defection would be formally announced on the Senate floor by Tuesday.
