THE opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suffered another major setback on Wednesday, July 23, as two senators from Akwa Ibom State formally defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The move further tipped the balance of power in favour of President Bola Tinubu’s party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The defectors, Sampson Ekong (Akwa Ibom South) and Aniekan Bassey (Akwa Ibom North-East), announced their departure from the PDP in letters read during Senate plenary by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
Their defection comes barely two months after all three PDP senators from Kebbi State, Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North), and Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South), also dumped the opposition party for the ruling APC.
That defection was preceded by a visit to President Bola Tinubu, alongside Kebbi State Governor Nasir Idris and APC former National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje, highlighting the strategic nature of the political maneuver.
The PDP has also been losing its grip on other states, including Delta, where party structures reportedly collapsed into the APC with support from Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessor Ifeanyi Okowa.
A similar trend has played out in Cross River, where several top PDP figures have joined the APC in recent months.
Beyond the National Assembly, the move also added to the wave of high-profile exits from the opposition party, coming just days after former Vice President Atiku Abubakar resigned his membership of the PDP, citing irreconcilable differences and a loss of confidence in the party’s current trajectory.
Atiku, who was the PDP’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, announced his resignation via a letter addressed to the party’s leadership in his Jada 1 ward in Adamawa State.
He described the decision as ‘heartbreaking’ but necessary, accusing the party of straying from its founding principles.
The recent defections also followed the formation of a new political coalition in March 2025 by Atiku, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, and former governors Rotimi Amaechi and Nasir El-Rufai, aimed at challenging the APC’s dominance in the 2027 elections.
The coalition recently adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC) as its platform, with many believing that Abubakar will emerge as the flagbearer.
The ICIR reports that Abubakar is seeking the presidency for the seventh time.
He had dumped the PDP for the APC in 2014 ahead of the 2015 election, in his bid to contest against the then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan.
He lost the APC primary to the late former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M