The senate on Thursday said it will review the legality of
Enyinnaya Abaribe’s defection from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)
to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Abaribe, senator representing Abia south, was among the
lawmakers who defected to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) during plenary
on Thursday.
Barau Jibrin, deputy senate president, raised the issue,
citing section 68(1)(g) of the constitution, which requires a lawmaker who
defects from the party that sponsored their election to vacate their seat
unless the move is caused by a division or merger within the party.
Barau said there is no evidence of a crisis within APGA to
justify Abaribe’s defection.
“I discovered that there isn’t any division in APGA and
there isn’t any in the Labour Party,” Barau said.
Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north, also said
there is no crisis in APGA or the Labour Party (LP) and noted that both parties
maintain functioning leadership structures.
“I know for a fact that APGA has one chairman and a national
executive council that is not in court,” Oshiomhole said.
“There are no issues of division or crisis within the
party.”
Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), added that the leadership of the LP had been
affirmed by the courts, noting that pending appeals do not nullify existing
judgements.
He urged the senate to enforce constitutional provisions
where necessary and warned against lawmakers defecting without valid grounds.
Opeyemi Bamidele, senate leader, said the matter is
significant for Nigeria’s democracy and constitutional order and suggested that
Abaribe should be given an opportunity to reconsider his defection letter
before the issue is referred to the national assembly’s legal department.
“If he insists, we may have no choice but to invoke the
relevant provisions of the Constitution,” Bamidele said.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the constitution
empowers him to act without necessarily seeking court intervention and stressed
that any decision must align with legal provisions.
Abaribe defended his defection and said he had been expelled
from APGA in September 2025.
“I have been sacked from my party since September 2025, and
I have the letter here,” the senator said.
“This section does not cover a situation where someone has
been removed from their party.”
Abaribe added that senators must belong to a political party
to retain their seats and argued that his move to ADC was lawful.
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