More than twelve Nigerian senators from the ruling All Progressives Congress have defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki on Tuesday read a letter from the members declaring their defection.
The lawmakers refused a last minute plea from the leader of the ruling party in the Senate to rescind their decision.
The Senate President was stopped briefly by police from leaving his home on Tuesday morning.
His media adviser Yusuph Olaniyonu said the move was to prevent the expected defection by some of the lawmakers.
This means that in the Senate the main opposition People’s Democratic Party now has a majority.
The PDP following the defection now has 58 senators, the APC has 48 senators in In the 109-member house of representatives.
Hours later another 37 members of the house of representatives also announced their defection from APC.
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
