By Kolawole Ojebisi
If the National Assembly were a human face it would be barely recognizable to a person who last saw it at its inauguration in June 13, 2023.
This is because the highest legislative organ, comprising the House of Representatives and Senate, has suffered significant alterations in terms of who belongs to what political party among its members.
The main causatory factor for the altercation is defection, that trite term politicians use as pretext for switching allegiance, dumping one political party for another with better clout and firmer footing to realise their ambition.
This is what is playing out at the National Assembly as the recent wave of defections by federal opposition lawmakers to the All Progressives Congress has strengthened the ruling party’s hold in the national legislature and weakened the opposition’s in good measure.
The National Assembly, as currently constituted, comprises the Senate with 109 seats, and the House of Representatives, with 360 seats.
At the commencement of the 10th Assembly under the joint leadership of the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, the APC controlled 59 seats in the Red Chamber and 175 in the Green Chamber.
According to the available statistics, the PDP had 118 lawmakers, followed by the LP (35), NNPP (19), All Progressives Grand Alliance (five), Social Democratic Party (two), African Democratic Congress (two), and the Young Progressives Party (one), while two seats were declared vacant.
In the Senate, the PDP held 36 seats, LP (eight), NNPP (two), SDP (two), APGA (one), and YPP (one), making a total of 50.
However, months into the current administration, defection waves started gathering momentum, forcing some members of the opposition parties to start jumping ship into the fold of the ruling party.
As things stand, findings by the New Diplomat shows that the ruling APC now has 265 of the total 469 members in both legislative chambers, leaving less than half, 203, of the members for the three main opposition parties to share among themselves.
This comes as the country’s major opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, and New Nigeria Peoples Party continue to grapple with internal crises.
The development has undermined the opposition parties influence which used to be formidable in both chambers with 182 seats in the House of Representatives and 50 in the Senate.
If the defection from the opposition parties, particularly the PDP, to the APC in the national assembly had been coming in dribs and drabs over a period of two-years of the Tinubu administration, it turned into a deluge in April following the literal collapse of the PDP structure in Delta, one of the strongholds of the opposition party since 1999.
The development in Delta followed the defection of the oil-rich state governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, his immediate predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa and other party stalwarts.
The move caused a tectonic shift in the ruling party’s dominance in the national assembly, especially in the green chamber.
In the wake of Oborevwori’s and others defection, six members from Delta state dumped the PDP for APC in the House of Representatives.
The letters of defection from the members were read on the floor of the House at the resumption of plenary last Tuesday.
The defecting members from Delta were led by the Leader of the Southern regional caucus of the three House and the longest-serving member, Nicholas Mutu (Bomadi), who has been in the green chamber on the platform of the PDP since 1999.
With this move, between the commencement of the tenth assembly and now, no fewer than 30 lawmakers, comprising six senators and 24 House members, have dumped the opposition parties and defected to the ruling APC.
Of the six senators, four were from the PDP, while the remaining two were from the LP and NNPP.
Among the 24 representatives, 16 were from the PDP, five from the LP, and three from the NNPP.
Among the PDP lawmakers who have switched allegiance to the APC are Erhriatake Ibori-Suenu (Ethiope Federal Constituency, Delta State), Salisu Koko (Koko-Besse/Maiyama Federal Constituency, Kebbi State), and Amos Magaji (Zango Kataf/Jaba Federal Constituency, Kaduna State).
Others include Senator Ned Nwoko (Delta North District), Hon. Jallo Hussaini Mohammed (Igabi Federal Constituency, Kaduna State), Hon. Adamu Tanko (Gurara/Suleja/Tafa Federal Constituency, Niger State), Chris Nkwonta (Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency, Abia State), and Hon. Suleiman Abubakar Gumi (Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency, Zamfara State).
The list also includes Nnamdi Ezechi (Ndokwa/Nkwuani), Jonathan Okodiko (Isoko), Thomas Eriyetomi (Warri), Julius Pondi (Burutu), and Victor Nwokolo (Ika North and South), all in the House of Reps.
The three Kebbi lawmakers, Senators Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), and Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South), who recently joined the APC after meeting with President Bola Tinubu, make up the remaining defections from the PDP.
Defectors from the LP include Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi (Imo East Senatorial District), Hon. Esosa Iyawe (Oredo Federal Constituency, Edo State), Chinedu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West Federal Constituency), Mathew Donatus (Kaura Federal Constituency, Kaduna State), and Akiba Bassey (Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Cross River State).
Those who dumped the NNPP include Hon. Yusuf Galambi (Gwaram Federal Constituency, Jigawa State), Senator Kawu Sumaila; Rep. Kabiru Rurum (Rano/Kibiya/Bunkure); Rep. Abdullahi Sani Rogo (Karaye/Rogo).
While political analysts have criticised the prevailing situation, stressing that it will not augur well for the country’s fragile democracy, the ruling party has expressed differing opinion.
The ruling party is of the opinion that when it comes to politics, too many cooks can’t spoil the broth as there’s strength in numbers.
Some legislators still staying put in the political parties on whose platforms they secured their positions have faulted claims by the defectors that their reason for running to the APC was due to one form of crisis or the other in their former parties.
Similarly, the PDP and LP national leaderships have, at different times, vowed to sue the defecting lawmakers, while the NNPP national leader and former Kano State governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, has described the actions as a gross betrayal of the affected parties.
