Senate President Godswill Akpabio sparked widespread reactions on social media Thursday after openly mocking the internal disarray in Nigeria’s opposition parties during plenary, as he read out multiple defection letters that saw several senators abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), and others for the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The comments came while Akpabio processed an official defection letter from Senator Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (Sokoto South), a former Sokoto State Governor, who resigned from the PDP citing persistent internal crises, leadership disagreements, and divisions. Tambuwal’s move was part of a larger wave, with at least nine senators, including Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South, formerly APGA), Victor Umeh (Anambra Central, LP), Tony Nwoye (Anambra North, LP), Ireti Kingibe (FCT, LP), and others from PDP, formally defecting to the ADC during the session.
Pausing visibly amused as he read through the letters, Akpabio highlighted the crumbling state of the opposition blocs. “Oh, PDP is gone!” he exclaimed, before adding, “Even the Labour Party is dead. I’ve read about three different political parties now,” as he referenced additional resignations and defections from LP and minority caucuses.
Seizing the moment, Akpabio dismissed widespread accusations that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was orchestrating the opposition’s troubles. He attributed the turmoil squarely to failures in opposition leadership.
“You cannot accuse the ruling party of tampering with their leadership because here you have APGA, you have Labour, you have MVP, and all those things. So all of them have a problem. They’ve not been able to put their parties together. So, APC cannot be blamed for this,” Akpabio stated. He added sarcastically that the defectors were “all out to ensure that we have a minority status in this chamber, and I am very proud of them.”
