Osun Election: Senate Spokesman reacts to planned defection of 22 Senators

The Senator representing Osun Central Senatorial District and Senate Spokesperson, Ajibola Basiru, has reacted to the gale of defection of Senators elected under the All Progressives Congress, APC, platform in the National Assembly.

Featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today, on Wednesday evening, the lawmaker was asked how this trend of defection could affect the APC in the upcoming governorship election in Osun State.

About 22 Senators, who failed in the just concluded primaries, are set to dump the ruling All Progressives Congress, according to viral reports.

Already, seven members of the Senate who had defected from the APC to other political parties include: Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano), Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi) Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Dauda Jika (Bauchi), Ahmad Babba Kaita (Katsina), Lawal Yahaya Gumau (Bauchi), and Francis Alimikhena (Edo).

Asked how the news of 22 senators dumping the ruling party could affect the party in the forthcoming election, the lawmaker insisted that the gale of defection will not hurt the APC’s chances in the Osun governorship poll.

According to him, “Politics is local. The politics of the National Assembly is different from the politics of Osun State.

“And I don’t know any of the existing federal lawmakers from the State of Osun that has defected from the party.

“And if the argument is based on defection, I don’t see how the defection of someone in Kebbi, Jigawa or Katsina States will affect the fortune of my party in the State of Osun.

“Secondly, as at the time the National Assembly was inaugurated on June 11, 2019, there were 63 National Assembly members (senators) belonging to APC. Today even with the defection of some of our members, we still stood at 57, that means we have four Senators in advantage over the PDP.

“And to the question of why people are defecting, they may have their reasons. Some of them may have lost popularity in their party or peculiar changes they face in the party. But what I know is that the South West has spoken in Ekiti and would speak louder in Osun.”