 has strengthened its majority in the Senate following the defection of Senator Ahmed Wadada.){kind=link}
With his return, the ruling party now controls 72 of the 109 seats in the upper chamber, while the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shrunk to 28 senators. Labour Party holds five, the All Progressives Grand Alliance two, while the NNPP and SDP share one apiece.
Wadada, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Accounts, had earlier dumped the APC in 2022 to pursue his senatorial ambition on the SDP platform, where he eventually won the 2023 election.
On September 2, he formally communicated his decision to rejoin the APC in a letter addressed to his ward chairman in Tudun Kofa.
The letter, titled Notification of my return to the APC, read:
“I am writing to inform you of my decision to return to our great party (the All Progressives Congress).
“After careful consideration, I have decided to rejoin the party to contribute to its growth, development, and success.”
Wadada’s defection adds to the woes of the PDP, which has witnessed a steady depletion of its Senate caucus in recent months.
Only in July, four senators, Francis Fadahunsi (Osun East), Oluwole Olubiyi (Osun Central), Aniekan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North East) and Samson Ekong (Akwa Ibom South), dumped the PDP for the APC. Their letters, read on the floor by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, cited the worsening internal crisis in the opposition party.
Bassey wrote that his decision was “deeply considered” and “imperative.”
“This decision has become imperative in view of the prevailing political developments both in my constituency and within the party structure, which has been fractured beyond redemption,” he said while thanking the PDP for the platform it had offered him in the past.
Senator Ekong, in his letter, pointed to ongoing realignments in Akwa Ibom politics.
“Politics is a game of interest, and if I may add, circumstances. In Akwa Ibom State, the earth has moved with the convergence of principal political players on the APC platform. My people have high hopes for commensurate reward systems from the APC power matrix,” he said.
Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele described the wave of defections as the beginning of a bigger shift.
“I sincerely welcome our colleagues to the All Progressives Congress. This cannot be the end — more are coming,” he said.