Abdullahi Adamu, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Wednesday, held a meeting with senators of the party, pleading with them not to leave.
The APC chairman who led other members of the National Working Committee, NWC, for the meeting of APC Senate Caucus in Hearing Room 1, Senate wing, expressed serious concern over the gale of defections that had hit the party at the national assembly in the last few days.
He assured the lawmakers that the APC still had genuine plans for them, adding that all their grievances arising from party primaries would be addressed.
Answering questions from journalists shortly after the meeting, Adamu noted that it was the season of defections and that there was nothing he or the party could do to stop those eager to leave the party from taking the exit door.
He said while he could not be bothered about what was happening in other parties, APC as the ruling party was likely to be hit the most by the massive realignments currently going on in the political sphere.
It would be recalled that party primaries sprang up several controversies, leading to many lawmakers who wanted to return to the Senate losing party tickets.
At the meeting, the lawmakers used the opportunity of Senator Adamu’s visit to express their grievances over alleged lack of internal democracy at state level of the party and described the intervention now as coming too late.
According to a source, the Adamu led- APC NWC was accused of not being assertive in its decisions as governors were allowed to exhibit very powerful postures to hijack primaries in their states as well as the national convention.
Speaking further, the APC national chairman said the current exodus from the party remained a source of serious concern to him and that it was part of the reason the leadership of the party had deemed necessary to meet with the APC caucus to mitigate the wave of defections.
He said, “It is an unfortunate development but this is a season for all manner of behaviours in the political space in the world and Nigeria is not an exception.
”In every election year, this kind of sub-step gives cause for people, stakeholders to sneeze. Nigeria is not an exception and the APC is not an exception, so Idon’t give a damn about what is happening in other parties, I care about what is happening in our party. You and I know that it is not just APC that this thing is happening.
“Because we are the ruling party, yes our problems are more prominent in the public glare.”
Adamu said the defections were unfortunate, promising that the party leadership would address the cause.
“No responsible leader would not worry losing one member, let alone two, three. At the moment, we are faced with the stack reality of their problems, but we are committed with my colleagues in the National Working Committee to face the problems squarely to see if the problems are solvable. We will solve them by the grace of God,” he added.
Recall that at the peak of APC in the Senate, the party could boast of 70 members. but shortly after the primaries, no less than eight senators have defected to opposition parties.
About 20 lawmakers in the House of representatives have also dumped the party in the last one week, citing lack of internal party democracy.
Those who have dumped the party in the Senate include former Senate leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, (Kebbi State); Senator Adamu Alierio(Kebbi): Senator Baaba Kaita (Katsina State); Senator, Francis Alimikhena (Edo North); Senator Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano Central); and Senator, Dauda Jika (Bauchi Central), all of who have pitched tents with PDP and NNPP.At the moment in the Senate, APC now has 62; PDP 39, New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP 3; Young Progressives Party, YPP 2; All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA 1, and Labour Party.