Senate President Godswill Akpabio has called for immediate and decisive legislative intervention to tackle Nigeria’s deepening economic crisis, energy sector instability, and escalating security challenges.

Speaking on Tuesday at the resumption of plenary after the Easter and Eid-el-Fitr recess, Akpabio acknowledged the strain that the current economic climate is placing on ordinary Nigerians, urging his colleagues to rise to the moment with focus and a renewed sense of duty.

“Insecurity, energy instability, and rising costs are not just issues demanding attention, they demand legislative action,” he declared.

“The people are watching. The world is watching. Our constituents are watching. And history, silent but unsleeping, is watching.”

Reflecting on the recent religious holidays, Akpabio emphasized their symbolic importance, framing them as moral guides for national leadership.

“These sacred seasons, Christianity’s celebration of resurrection and Islam’s culmination of fasting and charity, must guide the work we do here. Let them speak through our debates and shine in the quality of the laws we make,” he said.

He detailed the country’s ongoing security concerns, pointing to terrorism and criminality in the South-East and North-West, recurring farmer-herder conflicts in the North-Central, and unresolved environmental and justice issues in the South-South.

“These are not just headlines—they are the bleeding wounds of our republic. Our people look to us, not for rhetoric, but for rescue,” Akpabio stated.

He also turned attention to the national debate on electoral and judicial reforms, which he described as vital to the country’s democratic progress.

Calling for integrity and patriotism from lawmakers, Akpabio noted that the Senate would soon begin deliberations on key bills addressing national security, economic recovery, education, technology, and youth empowerment.

“Let every vote we cast, every motion we raise, and every oversight we conduct bear the fingerprints of integrity and patriotism,” he charged.

In his message to the public, Akpabio reaffirmed the Senate’s commitment to transformative governance: “To the Nigerian people, I say this: Your Senate is back at work. We have not forgotten your hopes, your hardships, or your hunger for change. We are here—refreshed in spirit, renewed in resolve—to build a nation where peace is not an illusion and progress is not a promise, but a pattern.”

The Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Emomotimi Guwor, alongside 21 other lawmakers, formally defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Monday.

During the House plenary, Speaker Guwor announced the receipt of 21 separate letters from members expressing their intent to leave the PDP. He also submitted his own letter of defection.

“The decision was reached unanimously,” Guwor said, citing internal divisions within the South South Zonal Executive of the PDP and a growing crisis at the party’s national level.

“With this development, the Delta State House of Assembly is now fully an APC House,” he added.

The mass defection represents a seismic shift in the political structure of the state legislature and further weakens the PDP’s long-standing control in Delta State.

It also follows previous defections by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, intensifying the political shake-up in the region.

In a significant development at the National Assembly, eight members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday announced their defection from their respective political parties, citing internal crises and the need for more stable platforms to serve their constituents.

Leading the wave of defections was Nicholas Mutu, the longest-serving member of the House and a key political figure from Delta State.

Mutu, who has represented Bomadi Federal Constituency since 1999 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), officially joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) along with five other colleagues from Delta.

The other defectors from PDP to APC include Nnamdi Ezechi (Ndokwa/Nkwuani), Jonathan Okodiko (Isoko), Thomas Eriyetomi (Warri), Julius Pondi (Burutu), and Victor Nwokolo (Ika North and South).

In a parallel shift, two lawmakers from Enugu State; Mark Obetta (Nsukka/Igboeze South) and Dennis Agbo (Igbo Eze North/Udenu), announced their departure from the Labour Party to join the PDP.

The formal letters of defection were read on the floor of the House during Tuesday’s plenary session.

According to the lawmakers, unresolved internal conflicts and factionalism in both the PDP and Labour Party informed their decision to seek new political alignments that would enable them to better discharge their legislative duties.

Dr. Chekwas Okorie, founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the recent disciplinary measures imposed by the National Judicial Council (NJC), describing them as “too little, too late.”

Last Wednesday, the NJC announced a one-year suspension without pay for three judges; Justice Jane Inyang of the Court of Appeal, Uyo Division; Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja; and Justice Aminu Baffa Aliyu of the Federal High Court, Zamfara Division, over misconduct.

The Council’s Deputy Director of Information, Kemi Ogedengbe, made the announcement in an official statement.

However, Okorie, speaking with newsmen, said the NJC’s action failed to address deeper issues plaguing Nigeria’s judiciary, particularly those originating from the Supreme Court.

He criticized the apex court’s judgment on the defection of 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, calling it a glaring example of judicial failure.

“The Supreme Court said that there was no evidence to show that people who decamped from their party, PDP to APC in Rivers publicly, filed an affidavit in court, which everybody saw on video, and they were proud of it.”

“When the implication dawned on them, they said they didn’t decamp anymore. And the Supreme Court said there was no evidence before it to prove that they decamped. What is the effect of that?” he asked.

Okorie noted that this controversial ruling has had a ripple effect, emboldening similar political maneuvers in other states.

“The effect of that bad judgment is what has just happened recently in Delta State because the Supreme Court can always say there is no evidence that they should surrender their seats,” he remarked.

He continued, “When there is even for an illiterate, who can barely read, and we can see it written in the Constitution that outside of the Governor, President, Vice President and Deputy Governor, every other elected person loses his seat mandatorily upon changing camp.”

Lamenting what he sees as judicial tolerance of unethical political behavior, Okorie pointed to the cases of notable figures like Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and Pastor Umo Eno, suggesting they were emboldened to consider abandoning the parties that brought them into office.

“Even when Rochas (Okorocha) dumped APGA, all of them keep saying that the political party is simply a vehicle to move from one point to another. Who defined a political party like that? Where did they get that definition?” he queried.

Okorie argued that such legal interpretations are harming Nigeria’s democratic system.

“So, it is the legal system we are running and the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, that has foisted this major setback to our efforts to have a proper and progressive democratic system,” he said.

He concluded by condemning what he described as the judicial endorsement of “procedural manipulation,” warning that it undermines public trust.

“Judicial endorsement of procedural manipulation exposes Nigerians as people who do not know who is good and who is bad. They know and they vote for the good ones, but they give them the bad ones. And you go to the court and mess it up.”