The move by some aggrieved Senators of the All Progressives Congress to leave the party over their loss at the just-concluded primary has continued to pose serious concerns for the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu.
APC already lost 13 of its Senators to the opposition and with the last outcome of the APC primary elections which saw many of its Senators lose their return bids, many more Senators are ready to leave the party.
Many of the party stakeholders believe that if this is not checked, the party might inevitably lose its majority status at the Red Chamber.
During Wednesday’s plenary, Senator Dauda Jika representing Bauchi Central, announced his defection to the New Nigeria People’s Party, bringing the number of APC senators to 67.
Currently, the five minority parties in the upper chamber have 43 senators with the Peoples Democratic Party boasting 39 senators, while the Young Peoples Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance, Labour Party and the New Nigeria People’s Party have four senators.
To stem the gale of defections, Adamu met with the APC senators behind closed doors at the National Assembly complex, Abuja, some minutes past 2 pm on Wednesday
Adamu, who first went to the office of the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, for a brief meeting before the general meeting, said that the party was worried by the wave of the defections among the APC senators
Speaking to journalists after his meeting with the APC caucus, he noted that it was a usual occurrence during the election period but it was enough for any leader to worry over the loss of any member.
He stated, “The meeting with the senators was most fruitful. The issue of defection is an unfortunate development when it happens but this is a season where there are all sorts of behaviour in the political space and ours is not an exception.
“In every election year, this kind of thing gives cause for stakeholders to sneeze and Nigeria is not an exception so is the APC, not an exception. I don’t care about what is happening in other parties, my focus is on the APC. But we all know that the occurrence is not only happening in the APC, it’s happening across other political parties too. And because we are the ruling party, our problems are exaggerated before the public.”
Adamu also said he did not know if the problem of defection would persist in the party but he had met with his colleagues at the National Assembly and he believed the issue was surmountable.
He added, “There is no responsible leader that would not be worried when he loses one member not to talk of two. At the moment we are faced with the stark reality of our problems. I have committed my colleagues at the National Assembly to face the problem squarely and see the problem as solvable. We are in politics, I don’t know what would happen tomorrow, and nobody does.”
