Senate Moves To Declare Abaribe’s Seat Vacant Over Defection

The Senate leadership on Thursday moved to declare the seat of Abia South Senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe, vacant following his defection from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

The move came shortly after Abaribe was listed among nine senators who formally announced their defection from their respective political parties to the ADC on the floor of the Senate.

While the leadership of the upper chamber accepted the defection of eight other lawmakers who left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Abaribe’s case immediately sparked constitutional objections.

Raising the first point of order, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, argued that Abaribe’s defection could not stand because there was no crisis or division within APGA that could justify his decision to leave the party.

In his response, Abaribe told the chamber that he had been expelled from APGA in September 2025, a development he said necessitated his defection to the ADC.

However, the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, maintained that the alleged expulsion from APGA automatically disqualified Abaribe from retaining his seat in the Senate.

Citing Section 65(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Bamidele noted that a person seeking election into the National Assembly must be a member of a political party and sponsored by that party.

According to him, once Abaribe was expelled by the party that sponsored his election, he ceased to qualify as a member of the Senate.

Bamidele further relied on Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution, which provides that “a member of the Senate or House of Representatives shall vacate his seat if he defects to another political party before the expiration of his tenure, except where the defection results from a division or merger in the original party.”

He stressed that no such division existed within APGA to justify Abaribe’s defection and therefore urged the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, to declare the Abia South seat vacant.

Responding, Akpabio also faulted Abaribe for failing to notify the Senate leadership earlier that he had allegedly been expelled from APGA since September 2025.

The Senate President subsequently gave the Abia lawmaker up till the next legislative day to present documentary evidence confirming his expulsion from APGA.

Akpabio also Abaribe would have to withdraw his defection letter or risk having his seat declared vacant by the Senate.