Senate Leader, Lawan reacts to defection of 16 Senators

Senator Ahmed Lawan

The Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan has insisted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) still has a majority in the Senate with 52 lawmakers.

Lawan stated this after a two-hour meeting of the APC caucus on Tuesday, following the defection of 14 Senators from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He expressed optimism that some of the defecting lawmakers would have a rethink and return to the ruling party.

“You’ll recall that some members of our family, the APC family gave a list that they have decamped from the APC to the PDP and other parties, the ADC in particular. It is with heavy heart that we have to watch our brothers and sisters in the APC caucus take the action they did.

“And we still are optimistic and confident that we will work with our leaders of the APC to bring back our colleagues who had gone.

“The essence of this press briefing is to let you know that even though some of our colleagues have left, the APC remains the majority party in the senate in terms of numbers. Out of the 109 senators, APC has 52, the PDP has 50, ADC has three and APGA has two. And you’ll recall that we lost two of our colleagues. So we have two vacant seats and the total gives you 109,” Lawan told reporters.