The Nigerian Senate turned into a battleground of political fireworks on Tuesday as lawmakers from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) locked horns over the defection of Senator Ned Nwoko from the PDP to the APC.

The plenary session, which was expected to proceed with legislative business, quickly descended into heated exchanges as PDP senators challenged Nwoko?s defection, arguing that the party was not in crisis and, therefore, his move was unconstitutional.

The debate kicked off when the senate minority Leader Abba Moro raised a constitutional point of order, questioning whether there was a legitimate division in the PDP?s National Working Committee (NWC) to justify Nwoko?s defection.

Moro engaged the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibril Barau, the Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele and the Senate president Godswill Akpabio.

Senate Barau said the Constitution allows any person to decamp provided there is a division in the party.

?Everybody in the country knows that there is a division, you have the Wike faction and the Bala Mohammed faction,? he said.

Moro responded saying, ?I want to say at this point that the PDP is a law-abiding institution organization. And so, the Court of Appeal made a pronouncement on the secretaryship of the party. And the party is adhering to that Court of Appeal decision until it is otherwise ruled.

Akpabio interjected, ?What does the Supreme Court say?

Moro continued saying, ?The Court of Appeal has ruled that Senator Anyanwu is the secretary of the party until the Supreme Court decides otherwise. And the party as a law-abiding organization is?

Akpabio cuts in again and said ?What about your governors? What did your governors say? Minority leader? We are going to set up this adhoc committee to look into your party affairs.?

In a final ruling, the Senate President dismissed the PDP?s objections, stating that the chamber could not assume the role of a court in determining party divisions. He upheld Nwoko?s defection and ruled the opposition?s point of order out of order, paving the way for the continuation of legislative proceedings.

With tensions still simmering, the session proceeded to the next item on the order paper, but the political drama of the day left no doubt that the battle for party supremacy in the Senate is far from over.

Akpabio had earlier read Nwoko?s defection letter from PDP to APC which urged the Senate to set up an Ad-Hoc Committee to investigate the crisis within the PDP and recommend a way forward to safeguard the nation?s democracy

Senator Nwoko?s defection letter announcing his dumping the PDP for the APC was read on the floor of the floor by Akpabio. (The Guardian)

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