A mass defection at the Senate on Tuesday has enthroned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to majority control at the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
After the 2015 election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) ended the reign of PDP as the ruling party for the first time since 1999.
APC had 63 members in the Senate to become the majority, while PDP had 43.
However, Tuesday’s action has turned the table in the Senate, with APC now the opposition while PDP is now the majority party.
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The latest defection saw bigwigs in the Senate such as Dino Melaye, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Lanre Tejuosho, Abdulazeez Nyako and Monsurat Sunmonu cross to the PDP.
Presently, PDP leads the Senate with 58 members while APC has 48.
Senator Victor Umeh remains the only member of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) in the floor of the Senate.
Similarly, at the lower chamber, 33 APC members defected to PDP while four others defected to ADC. However, APC still maintains the majority in both the lower chamber, and the National Assembly as a whole.
This could change soon, though, if the defectors’ claim that more defections are underway is something more than a mere threat.
For now, this is what the Senate looks like:
PDP | APC | APGA | VACANT |
58 | 48 | 1 | 2 |