Senate Majority Leader Michael Opeyemi Bamidele has revealed that more than 80 percent of federal lawmakers from opposition parties are preparing to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking on Friday at the inauguration of several projects in Ilupeju, Lagos, spearheaded by Odi‑Olowo/Ojuwoye LCDA Chairman Rasaq Olusola Ajala—Bamidele outlined the scope of the defections awaiting the resumption of parliament.
“As Senate leader, I can tell you that well over 80 per cent of our colleagues in the Senate and the House of Representatives who are not in the APC are planning to defect to the All Progressives Congress,” he stated, adding that the transition would accelerate with the return of lawmakers to the chamber.
“You have already seen some of them make the move. By the time we resume on Tuesday, you will hear of more Senators and House of Reps members defecting, especially from the PDP to the APC,” he said.
Bamidele also accused some opposition figures of being so desperate for power that they would entertain unconstitutional tactics.
“Some of them do not even mind a military coup. That is how desperate they are.”
He lambasted those who once claimed to be champions of democracy yet are now, according to him, plotting its unraveling.
“These are the same people who claimed they fought for democracy. But today, just because they are not in government, they want to do everything possible to bring an end to democracy in this country.”
During the same event, Lagos Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat dismissed rumblings about a nascent “Association of Defeated Candidates” as inconsequential.
“There is one group calling themselves the Association of Defeated Candidates, ADC or something like that,” he remarked, noting that such alliances would not destabilize the APC.
He defended President Bola Tinubu’s fiscal policies:
“When Tinubu became president, Nigeria was owing a lot, and the president has paid off those debts. To pay that amount, something must be sacrificed.”
According to Hamzat, critics are merely reacting to their political defeats.
“Naturally, the people he took over power from would be angry, and what we are seeing now is the result of that anger.”
Praising the local government’s infrastructural achievements, the deputy governor emphasized their significance.
“Some states are not even doing what our local governments are doing. The roads that our local government has completed are about 90. Our state is doing very well. We must not sit back and allow some group to come out and claim they are forming one coalition.”
