The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) will soon be enmeshed in fresh crisis as 22 senators have perfected a plan to dump the party for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),
The plan according to The Sun, is to give the major opposition party the majority in the Red Chamber.
The APC holds 59 seats, the PDP has 36 seats, while the Labour Party (LP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have 8, 2, 2, 1, and 1 seat respectively.
If the 22 APC senators follow through on their threat, it would increase the number of PDP senators to 58, while reducing the APC’s count to 37. As a result, the PDP would emerge as the majority party in the Senate.
A senator from the Northwest who hinted Th Sun about the development said that already, the 22 senators have held series of meetings in Abuja and London, where they affirmed their resolve to decamp to the PDP.
To actualize their plan, the PDP senators have agreed to cede the Senate President position currently held by Senator Akpabio to one of the 22 senators and Yari’s allies decamping to the party, as well as the Deputy Senate President post.
On the part of the PDP senators, the party would take the Majority Leader, Chief Whip, and Deputy Chief Whip, the source said, adding that the Yari group has pledged to work harmoniously with them.
It would be recalled that Senator Akpabio used 17 votes to defeat Senator Yari during the 10th Senate President election held on June 13, with Akpabio scoring 63 votes and Yari, 46.
Also, another senator from the Northwest said that a group of senators have already concluded plans to challenge the outcome of the election in court on grounds that the ballot papers used in the election that was supposed to be secret balloting were manipulated and compromised.
It was also gathered that the 22 senators who come from across the six-geopolitical zones and those planning to go to court from across party lines are just waiting to see how the sharing of principal offices, committees chairmanship positions in the Senate and some of their court cases in the states would go before carrying out their plans.
It was also said that the senators who are not in the Senator Akpabio camp have been left out in the ongoing committee selections in the Senate, which has reinforced their resolve to support the PDP in taking over the leadership of the upper chamber.
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