The Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Omale Sule, has alleged that the FCT Senator, Ireti Kingibe, received N100 million from the national body of the party before the Area Councils’ election.

Sule made this allegation on Friday while addressing newsmen in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, noting that they did not see the money.

This is coming after FCT chapter of the ADC approached the Federal High Court in Abuja to prevent the lawmaker from presenting herself as a member of the party.

The AMAC ADC chairman said, “We heard that N100 million was given to Senator Ireti Kingibe from ADC National just before the FCT local government election, but we never saw anything from her

“The worst of all is that she never works with the party structure. You can create your own structure outside the party’s own. Everybody, even the president of this country today has a Ward where he comes from and whenever they call for a meeting and he’s not able to attend, somehow he would send a message across.

“But in our own case here, the only Senator we have that is our leader here in FCT is not attending meeting. She doesn’t even Lias  with the state chairmen.”

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.

Nine senators from the PDP, LP, and APGA have defected to the ADC today in the Senate chambers.

No fewer than nine senators from different political parties formally announced their defection to the African Democratic Congress on Thursday, further reshaping the political configuration of the Senate.

Those who declared for the party include the lawmaker representing Sokoto South, Aminu Tambuwal; his Abia South counterpart, Enyinnaya Abaribe; Binos Yaroe (Adamawa South); Victor Umeh (Anambra Central); Tony Nwoye (Anambra North); Lawal Usman (Kaduna Central); Ogoshi Onawo (Nasarawa South); Austin Akobundu (Abia Central); and Ireti Kingibe (Federal Capital Territory).

Their letters of defection were read on the floor of the Senate during Thursday’s plenary by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

In his letter, Nwoye attributed his decision to internal crises within the Labour Party.

“I wish to tender my resignation amid the ongoing multiple litigations within the Labour Party, which have significantly affected the cohesion and stability of the party.

“Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest esteem and regards,” Nwoye’s defection read.

Reacting after reading the letters, Akpabio welcomed the lawmakers to their new political platform but dismissed suggestions that the ruling All Progressives Congress was responsible for the wave of defections.

He said, “Deputy Senate President and Leader of the Senate, I hope you noticed that I have read (defections) from three different political parties now. So, you cannot accuse the ruling party of tampering with its leadership. Here, we have APGA, Labour, SDP, and all of them.

“So, all of them have a problem. They’ve not been able to put their parties together. So, the APC cannot be blamed for this.

“They are all out to ensure that we have what you call a minority status in this chamber, and I am very proud of them.”

The latest defections further underscore the continuing political realignments in the 10th Senate, where lawmakers have repeatedly switched party allegiances amid internal disputes within several opposition parties.

As of Thursday, the APC retains a dominant majority with 87 senators, while the Peoples Democratic Party has dwindled to seven members.

The ADC, boosted by the latest defections, now has seven senators in the chamber.

Other minority parties include the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), each of which has one senator, bringing the total membership of the Senate to 106.

The Labour Party and Social Democratic Party currently have no representation in the upper chamber following the latest defections.