Senate chief exits Buhari’s APC as opposition swells

Bloomberg

Nigeria’s leader Muhammadu Buhari suffered yet another blow as the Senate president walked out of the ruling party less than a week after about 50 lawmakers joined the ranks of a swelling opposition movement ahead of elections in February.
“It is a decision that has been inescapably imposed on me by certain elements and forces within the All Progressives Congress who have ensured that the minimum conditions for peace, cooperation, inclusion and a general sense of belonging did not exist,” Bukola Saraki said in a statement.
“I leave all that behind me. Today, I start as I return to the party where I began my
political journey, the Peoples Democratic Party.” The Senate president is the third highest-ranked politician after the president and his deputy in Africa’s biggest oil producer.
Buhari became the first opposition candidate since the end of military rule in 1999 to win power at the ballot box, in 2015. The APC, formed after several opposition parties merged, managed to unseat the PDP, in power for 16 years. But the ruling party has since struggled to unite its various personalities and bitter internal rivalries have taken a toll.
Saraki is the highest-profile politician to leave the APC ahead of the elections with Buhari, 75, seeking a second term. His decision follows the announcement by the lawmakers that they were joining opposition parties, with a majority going to the PDP.
“The significance of this, for the ruling party, is immense,” Clement Nwankwo, executive director at the Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, said.
“If the head of the legislative arm of government leaves the ruling party for an opposition party, then it certainly has a strong weakening effect.”