Mass defections from the All Progressives Congress (APC) are anticipated starting in April by the nation’s major opposition parties.
The Sun reports that the defections will result from primaries that will be held in the nation’s 36 State Houses of Assembly, 109 Senate districts, 360 federal constituencies, and 990 seats.
Lawmakers vying for return tickets are concerned that their state governors may oppose them since the new Electoral Act eliminated indirect primaries.
In front of the 2027 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has already published an updated election schedule, and the different political parties will hold primaries.
Some state and national assembly members who intend to rejoin the legislature told the aforementioned media that they would be seriously threatened by the recent defections of opposition governors to the ruling APC.
The lawmakers, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that the governors who joined the APC insisted on fielding candidates before the upcoming general elections, without consulting anyone they encountered within the party.
One of the Delta State lawmakers told the publication that the ability to choose flag bearers for the general elections the next year was one of the agreements and talks the governors made with the APC and President Bola Tinubu.
He claimed that some of the governors insisted on putting in new candidates, primarily from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but were unwilling to make room for the APC members they had met when they left the party.
He claimed that the irate APC members have initiated negotiations with the PDP, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and the Labour Party (LP) in order to make accommodations and provide them with return tickets to parliament so they won’t be caught off guard.
“In the states, political party structures are under the authority of the governors. Nearly every PDP governor has switched to the APC as of right now. They arrived with their own organizations and supporters. Regretfully, the governors have already made arrangements with President Tinubu and the APC leadership to permit them to field candidates for the general elections in the next year.
“A few of us are aware that we won’t receive the tickets. Opening talks with the PDP, ADC, and LP is our only choice. One of the lawmakers stated, “Hopefully, we will use our popularity to campaign and hope that we win our re-elections next year.”
The APC intends to hold its national and state house of assembly primaries close to the end of the window allowed by INEC in an effort to curb the mass defections.
According to an APC source, candidates who are rejected will not be able to defect and obtain tickets from the opposition parties by the end of May this year if the plan goes through.
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