3 senators dump APC for PDP, NNPP

Three Senators of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have resigned their membership of the ruling party.

The senators are Ahmad Babba Kaita (Katsina North), Lawal Gumau (Bauchi South), and Francis Alimikhena (Edo North).

Their resignation and defection were made known in three separate letters read by Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at plenary on Tuesday.

While Kaita and Alimikhena defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gumau, on the other hand, defected to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Kaita’s letter read: “As senator representing Katsina North Senatorial District, I write to formally notify you of my resignation from the APC and registration declaration for the PDP.

“My resignation from the APC was borne out of the marginalisation of critical stakeholders by the State Government and Leadership of the Party in Katsina State, where small people like me do not have a chance.

“I have since been joyfully and graciously accepted into the fold of the Peoples Democratic Party in Katsina State.”

On his part, Alimikhena stated that his decision to resign from the APC was over “continuing and multifaceted crisis that has bedeviled the APC in his senatorial district”.

“This has created parallel executives that have undermined internal discipline, cohesion, and focus,” the senator added.

The defection by the three lawmakers has reduced the total number of APC senators from 70 to 67 in the upper chamber.

The Star