There was constitutional debate in the Senate on Thursday after lawmakers announced plans to examine the legality of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe’s defection from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Abaribe, who represents Abia South Senatorial District, formally declared his move to the ADC during plenary, triggering immediate constitutional concerns among several senators.
Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin quickly raised the issue, citing section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution, which requires a lawmaker to vacate their seat if they defect from the political party that sponsored their election, except in cases where the defection is caused by a division or merger within the party.
Barau argued that there was no visible crisis within APGA to justify the senator’s decision to switch parties.
“I discovered that there isn’t any division in APGA and there isn’t any in the Labour Party,” Barau said.
Supporting the argument, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, representing Edo North, insisted that APGA remains a stable party with a recognised leadership structure.
“I know for a fact that APGA has one chairman and a national executive council that is not in court,” Oshiomhole said.
“There are no issues of division or crisis within the party.”
Oshiomhole, a former national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), added that the leadership of the Labour Party has already been affirmed by the courts, stressing that pending appeals do not invalidate existing judgments.
He warned that the Senate must take constitutional provisions seriously and avoid allowing lawmakers to defect without valid justification.
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele described the situation as a serious constitutional matter that could affect Nigeria’s democratic order.
He proposed that Abaribe should first be given the opportunity to reconsider his defection letter before the matter is referred to the National Assembly’s legal department.
“If he insists, we may have no choice but to invoke the relevant provisions of the Constitution,” Bamidele said.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio also weighed in, noting that the constitution empowers the Senate to act on such issues without necessarily seeking court intervention, but emphasized that any action must strictly align with the law.
In response, Abaribe defended his decision, insisting that he was no longer a member of APGA.
“I have been sacked from my party since September 2025, and I have the letter here,” the senator said.
“This section does not cover a situation where someone has been removed from their party.”
Abaribe further argued that senators must belong to a political party to retain their seats, maintaining that his move to the ADC was lawful under the circumstances.
The Senate is expected to review the matter further as lawmakers consider the constitutional implications of the controversial defection.
