Seven Lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The defections were announced during plenary on Wednesday.
In the upper chamber, Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the letters of three prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators—Amos Yohanna of Adamawa North, Aminu Iya Abbas of Adamawa Central, and Ikra Aliyu Bilbis of Zamfara Central all of whom cited intractable internal crises and factionalization within the PDP as the primary drivers for their departure.
The lower chamber experienced a similar shift as the House of Representatives Speaker, Rt.Hon
Tajudeen Abbas announced the defection of four members of the House of Representatives to the APC.
This included three former PDP members—Garba Inuwa and Abdullahi El-Rasheed from Gombe State, and Mohammed Audu from Taraba State alongside Joshua Chinedu Obika, who represents the Abuja Municipal/Bwari Federal Constituency and moved from the Labour Party (LP).
The defecting lawmakers uniformly pointed to the lack of cohesion and persistent leadership disputes within their former parties as obstacles to delivering effective representation to their constituents, expressing confidence in the Renewed Hope mandate of the current administration.
These strategic realignments have significant implications for the legislative balance of power, as the APC’s ranks in the Senate have now climbed to 83 members, while the PDP’s representation has dwindled to 19.
Senate President Akpabio characterized the development as a validation of the government’s ongoing economic reforms, suggesting that the emptying of the opposition into the ruling party indicates a growing national consensus on the country’s direction.
With the opposition parties grappling with protracted litigations and structural fractures, the ruling party now enjoys a commanding leverage that analysts believe will prove decisive in the lead-up to the 2027 general elections.
