Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is braving up following news of a major defection within his ruling party.
More than twelve Nigerian senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress on Tuesday defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Hours later another 37 members of the house of representatives also announced their defection from APC.
Buhari who has been blamed partly for the current happenings is however wishing the defectors well.
He wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that “I wish all of our party members who today defected, the very best in their future undertakings.”
“The APC has done its best to stop the defections, and I must commend the party leadership for working tirelessly to unite the party and position it for future victory” he added.
I wish all of our party members who today defected, the very best in their future undertakings. The APC has done its best to stop the defections, and I must commend the party leadership for working tirelessly to unite the party and position it for future victory.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) July 24, 2018
Weakened APC
The opposition PDP following the defection now has 58 senators, the APC has 48 senators in the 109-member house of representatives.
This could be a major blow to President Mohammadu Buhari who has declared his intention to seek re-election.
Last year a major ally of the President, Atiku Abubakar announced his decision to join the opposition political party, PDP.
Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria quit the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in last November and re-joined a party he left four years ago.
This month the ruling APC also witnessed a split after some aggrieved members announced the formation of a new party.
The newly formed party the Reformed All Progressives Congress could also threaten President Buhari’s second term bid.
The National Chairman of the new party is Alhaji Buba Galadima says President Buhari has over the last three years demonstrated incompetence.
He also says the party is promoting nepotism at the highest level of governance. Galadima accused the Buhari-led administration of intolerance for any form of dissent.
The 75 year old leader is struggling to deal with his country’s economic crisis as millions remain jobless. He has also failed to contain ethnic clashes and the insurgency of militant group Boko Haram.
Source: Africafeeds.com
