The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has drawn reactions on social media after making remarks about the internal crisis within opposition parties during Senate plenary.
Akpabio made the comments while reading an official defection letter from former Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the former governor of Sokoto State who currently serves as a senator. The letter confirmed Tambuwal’s decision to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
The letter also referenced a number of resignations from the Labour Party (LP) and other members of minority caucuses in the Senate.
While reading the letter, Akpabio paused and appeared amused by the developments within the opposition parties, making a remark about their internal situation. “Oh, PDP is gone!”
He continued by saying, “Even the Labour Party is dead. I’ve read about three different political parties now,” as he mentioned additional defections involving members of the LP.
Akpabio also used the moment to dismiss allegations that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was responsible for the difficulties facing opposition parties.
According to him, the instability within the opposition is a result of internal leadership challenges within those parties.
“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. They are all out to ensure that we have a minority status in this chamber, and I am very proud of them,” Akpabio said.