APC becomes minority in Senate as 15 Senators defect to PDP; Saraki expected to defect after escaping illegal police siege
President of the Nigerian Senate, Bukola Saraki, is expected to defect from the ruling All Progressives' Congress party (APC) after police besieged his house.
On Tuesday, Saraki escaped an illegal police siege at his Abuja home and made it to the Senate, where he presided over the plenary.
He announced the defection of 15 senators away from the ruling All Progressives Congress party, APC, and the adjournment of the plenary till September 25, 2018.
APC is now a minority in parliament’s upper house, indicating worsening rifts in President Muhammadu Buhari’s political camp months ahead of an election.
Fourteen of the 15 lawmakers went to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a letter read on the Senate floor stated. Another senator later left the ruling party while parliament was in session.
This plot aimed at compelling me and my associates to stay in a party where members are criminalised without just cause, where injustice is perpetrated at the highest level and where there is no respect for constitutionalism is an exercise in futility and it will fail.— Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) July 23, 2018