With Tuesday defection of 15 senators from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the ruling party has lost its majority status in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, underscoring rising political tensions ahead of general elections early next year.
A group of 15 Senators, including the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, joined the PDP from President Muhammadu Buhari’s APC, according to a statement read by Senate President Bukola Saraki during Tuesday’s plenary.
Other senator that joined Kwankaso are Senator Tejuoso, Senator Shaaba, Senator Germade, Senator Melaye, Senator Shittu, Senator Rafiu and Senator Shitu Ubali.
Others are Senator Isa Misau, Senator Hunkuyi, Senator Monsurat, Senator Danbaba, Senator Nafada, Senator Nazif and Senator Nyako.
Security operatives had earlier surrounded Saraki’s residence, and that of his deputy Ike Ekweremadu, in Abuja, according to their spokesmen. Police did not respond to calls for comment.
Saraki is Nigeria’s third-highest ranking political office holder after President Muhammadu Buhari and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo.
Relations between the legislature and executive have been strained, with Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who both emerged legislative leaders against Buhari’s wish, often going against the party line.
Saraki said in a statement earlier that he was invited to appear at a police station in Abuja on Tuesday for questioning over his alleged link to an armed robbery in his home state of Kwara. He said the police had turned the investigation into a witch hunt against people seen as government opponents.
He accused the police of acting in concert with the government to detain him as a way to prevent some lawmakers from defecting from the APC.
“This plot is aimed at compelling me and my associates to stay in a party where members are criminalized without just cause; where injustice is perpetrated at the highest level and where there is no respect for constitutionalism,” Saraki said.
Saraki was not among the 15 defectors.
According to the upper house’s website, the PDP had 46 senators and the APC 60, before the defections.
Similarly in the House of Representatives, 37 members of the House of Representatives have defected from Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Of this number, 32 joined the PDP while four joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC). One later announced that he was also leaving the APC but did not state his new party.
Announcing their defection on Tuesday during plenary, the first 36 lawmakers cited division at all levels of the APC as the reason for their defection.
Prominent among the defectors are Sani Rano, Barry Mpigi, Ali Madaki, Dickson Tackighir, Hassan Saleh, Danburam Nuhu, Mark Gbilah, Razak Atunwa, Ahmed Bichi, Abdulsamad Dasuki and Zakari Mohammed.
Neither the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, nor his deputy, Yusuff Lasun, was named among the defectors.
Few minutes after the 36 announced their defection, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Rules and Business, Orker Jev, announced that he was also resigning from the APC.
He cited division in the APC as his reason for leaving the party. He however did not announce the party he is moving to.
Buhari, who is seeking a second four-year tenure in elections due in February 2019, is contending with the unraveling of the coalition that formed the APC and brought him to power by defeating an incumbent in 2015 for the first time in Nigeria’s history.
Saraki and Dogara were members of a faction of the former ruling PDP that joined other opposition groups to form the APC.
There hasn’t yet been any comments from the Presidency over the development.
