Senate President, Ahmed Lawan led over eighten Senators plotting to dump the APC for other parties to a meeting with the National Chairman of the APC, Adamu Abdullahi.
NAIJA NEWS NG reports that the aggrieved Senators listed out their grievances .
Due to the recent defections, the APC now has 62 senators while the PDP boast of 39; NNPP, three; Young Progressives Party (YPP), two; Labour Party (LP), one and and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), one.
The Senators are those who lost return tickets in APC and have gotten mouthwatering offers from PDP.
During the meeting on Wednesday, they highlighted reasons for planning to exit the APC.
These grievances are:
*Alteration of delegates lists by governors.
*Conduct of primaries in defiance of APC and INEC guidelines.
*Hijack of party primaries by APC governors.
*Non-return of experienced, hardworking and committed Senators.
*Party’s disrespect for a gentleman agreement with the Senate and House of Representatives caucuses to concede slots to Senators with robust experience.
*Preference for moneybags and defectors.
“The Senators were led to the session by President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan.
“The discussion bordered on the increasing depletion of the APC Senate Caucus and plans by 18 more Senators to defect to opposition parties, especially the PDP.
“The party leadership was not comfortable that APC might end up losing its majority.
“The way we are going, the coalition of opposition parties may end up controlling the leadership of the Senate.
“We have 18 Senators on standby to move to other parties to prove a point during the 2023 general election,” a source at the meeting told The Nation.
Speaking to The PUNCH, a lawmaker said Adamu Abdullahi tried to persuade aggrieved lawmakers to remain in the party.
The source said, “The party chairman came to have a meeting with the APC senators because he said that they learnt through intelligence that not lesser than 20 more senators were planning to defect to other parties within the next one week.
“The chairman asked each of the aggrieved senators to lay bare their grievances which we all did one after the other. Having heard our problems, the chairman instructed that we put them into writing.”
According to the lawmaker, the APC chairman said it was a dangerous period for the party to lose its lawmakers close to the 2023 general election.
He stated that Adamu asked the senators to draft a letter of complaint to the party to as to allow the APC caucus leaders deliberate on the issue raised with National Working Committee.
“Senator Adamu further stated the party would then see what it can do to help the situation. He, however, stated that lawmakers who do not feel comfortable with the help provided by the parties can then leave. But leaving without proper consultations with the party sends a wrong signal of discord. It presents the party as if in disarray and without proper leadership.”
“This is an election year and it’s not good to present the party as having leadership issues,” the source quoted Adamu to have said.
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