“PDP Has Lost Direction” — Aliero, Abdullahi, Maidoki Defect To APC, Boosting Ruling Party To 68 Senate Seats
Three senators from Kebbi State on Tuesday officially defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), citing internal crisis and leadership failure within the PDP as the major reasons for their switch.
The defecting lawmakers are Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), and Senator Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South). Their defection letters were read during plenary by Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session.
The senators’ decision, though not entirely unexpected, follows a closed-door meeting last Friday with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa. The meeting was attended by APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris, Sokoto State Governor Ahmad Aliyu, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu.
In their separate letters, the senators lamented the deepening leadership crisis in the PDP, characterised by unresolved litigations, ideological confusion, and internal divisions.
Senator Adamu Aliero, a former Kebbi governor and ex-Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, said he could no longer continue in a party that had “lost direction” and become “disconnected from the aspirations of Nigerians.”
“Politics must not be about personal loyalty to a platform. It must always be about service, solutions, and results,” he wrote.
“The APC, under its renewed leadership, has shown encouraging signs of transformation… I believe the APC offers a more viable platform to serve my constituents and drive development.”
Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, who once served as Senate Majority Leader before leaving the APC in 2022 over intra-party disputes in Kebbi, described his return as a “homecoming.”
“The issues that prompted my exit have now been resolved. I am one of the founding architects of the APC, and I return to continue the work of nation-building,” he said.
Senator Garba Maidoki, a first-time lawmaker elected in 2023, said his decision was rooted in the PDP’s “lingering internal crisis” and the APC’s alignment with his development goals.
“My district has seen improved security under this administration. My people are returning to their farms and living in peace. I believe the APC is the right platform to advance their interests,” Maidoki stated.
Tuesday’s defections mark the second wave of defections to the APC in recent weeks. Just last week, Senator Kawu Sumaila (Kano South) left the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to join the APC, also citing internal party wrangling.
With the latest development, the APC now controls 68 out of 109 seats in the Senate. The PDP holds 30, Labour Party five, Social Democratic Party (SDP) two, while the NNPP and APGA have one seat each. Two seats remain vacant following the death of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah and the gubernatorial election victory of Senator Monday Okpebholo.
Present to receive the defectors in the Senate chamber were APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, Kebbi Governor Nasir Idris, and Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs Tanko Yusuf. The defectors were cheered by fellow APC senators and later posed for photographs with the party leadership.
The defections come despite recent moves by the PDP to quell its internal turmoil. On Monday, the PDP Governors’ Forum appointed former Senate President Bukola Saraki to lead a seven-member reconciliation committee aimed at mending divisions within the party ahead of its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on May 27.
Although the PDP Senate Caucus had earlier announced plans to form a separate reconciliation panel, it remains unclear whether that committee was ever inaugurated or if it contributed meaningfully to crisis resolution efforts.
