APC gets another Senate seat as Effiong dumps PDP

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday gained one more seat in the Senate with the defection of Senator Nelson Effiong (PDP, Akwa-Ibom South) to the party.

Effiong, who announced his defection during plenary, said he decided to leave because of the crisis in the PDP.

With Effiong’s defection, APC occupies 64 seats, PDP 43, Labour Party (LP) 1 and the seat of the Anambra Central is still vacant.

Daily Trust had yesterday exclusively reported that the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, was all out to stop Effiong from decamping to the APC.

Announcing his defection, Effiong said “No reasonable politician who is worth his salt would remain and allow his people to be drifting without a direction. So, I have decided today, the 19th day of January, 2017, to resign from the PDP and move to the party that is bringing peace and direction to this country, the APC.”

Speaking on Effiong’s defection, the Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio (PDP, Akwa-Ibom), asked him to vacate his seat.

“I need to let the Senate and the Senate president know that it has been decided up to the Supreme Court that it is not an individual that contests election but the political party and therefore, the moment somebody takes the mandate of a political party, it behooves on that political party to immediately take steps.

“Rumoursly, we had that this action is going to take place and we engaged the senator in various discussions and we have shown him the implication. I want it to be noted in this Senate that the PDP in Akwa Ibom State is already on its way to court and we would want to reclaim our mandate,” he said.

Our correspondent reports that senators of the APC chanted ‘no, no’ in response to Akpabio’s threats.