Akpabio: ADC Is Dead As Mass Defection To NDC

Mass defection has hit the African Democratic Party (ADC). This is as the Senate President Godswill Akpabio mocked the party, saying it was dead.

Akpabio’s comment followed the mass resignation of no fewer than 17 National Assembly members from the party moved to the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Akpabio said that he thinks the ADC is dead, following a fresh wave of defections that saw lawmakers move en masse to other political parties, including the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Labour Party.

The defections, announced on the floor of the Green Chamber (House of Representatives), include lawmakers such as Yusuf Datti, Uchenna Okonkwo, Thaddeus Attah, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, and others.

Akpabio during plenary on Tuesday after reading a letter announcing the defection of lawmakers, including Enyinnaya Abaribe, who defected to the Labour Party, and Victor Umeh, who joined the NDC, citing internal crises and “unending litigation” within the ADC, proclaimed the party was dead.

“Resignation from ADC and declaration for Labour Party. Maybe all those defecting from ADC should just compile everything in one paper and bring, so that we don’t keep announcing, announcing, announcing. Because I think ADC is dead,” Akpabio said, drawing reactions in the chamber.

He continued in a lighter tone, questioning the frequency of political defections by lawmakers.

“How many times can you defect in a month? Once. But some have done three times,” he laughed

The Senate President suggested a more coordinated system for handling defections, adding that lawmakers should “compile” their movement lists rather than announce them individually on the floor.

“So that it doesn’t look like a daily ritual. If you are defecting from Labour, you write all of you. If you are moving from ADC, you write all of you. If you are entering NDC, you write all of you,” he added.

Akpabio, reading a letter of defection letter from Abaribe, noted his movement across parties in recent years.

“Note that Senator Abaribe has moved from APGA to ADC, and now he has moved from ADC to Labour Party,” he said, before joking that future announcements would no longer be read individually.

Umeh, in his resignation letter at the Senate, cited “lingering divisions in the leadership and unending litigation” in the ADC, saying the situation made continued membership untenable.

“I remain committed to making my contributions towards the development of our dear nation, but this time through the NDC,” he said.