No fewer than 17 members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday defected from the African Democratic Congress to the Nigerian Democratic Congress, further reshaping the political landscape ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Their defections were announced during plenary on the floor of the House.
Also announced was the defection of Leke Abejide, who moved from the ADC to the All Progressives Congress.
The lawmakers who joined the NDC are Yusuf Datti, Uchenna Okonkwo, Adamu Wakili, Thaddeus Attah, George Ozodinobi, Lilian Orogbu, Oluwaseyi Sowunmi, Peter Aniekwe, Mukhtar Zakari, George Oluwande, Munachim Umezuruike, Emeka Idu, Jesse Onuakalusi, Ifeanyi Uzokwe, Afam Ogene, Murphy Omoruyi, and Abdulhakeem Ado.
The latest defections come barely two days after former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and former Kano State Governor Musa Kwankwaso formally dumped the ADC for the NDC.
Obi, the Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, and Kwankwaso, a former presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party, were presented with NDC membership cards on Sunday after a closed-door meeting with party leaders.
The duo was received into the party by former Bayelsa State Governor and NDC national leader, Senator Seriake Dickson.
Explaining his exit from the ADC, Obi cited what he described as a worsening political climate characterised by internal crises, external interference, legal disputes, and deepening divisions within party structures.
He said, “Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because our highly respected Chairman, Senator David Mark, treated me badly, nor because my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me.
“However, the same Nigerian state and its agents that created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party that forced me to leave now appear to be finding their way into the ADC, with endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division, instead of focusing on deeper national problems.”
Kwankwaso, on his part, called on Nigerians to register with the NDC, saying his political camp had already commenced membership registration.
Welcoming the opposition figures into the party, Dickson described the NDC as a stable and fast-growing political platform free from litigation and factional disputes.
He said the party, despite being relatively young, was prepared to play a major role in shaping Nigeria’s political future.
