Senate President Godswill Akpabio has boasted that opposition ranks in the upper chamber have shrunk to just four or five senators.
Speaking at the APC national caucus meeting in Abuja on Thursday, Akpabio said some of the remaining minority lawmakers privately expressed readiness to defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
He appealed to party leaders to ensure equal opportunities for new entrants from other parties, warning against discrimination.
“Let me appeal to all our leaders that all the political stakeholders coming in from other political parties must be given equal opportunities to thrive. There must not be any discrimination. Do your best not to leave anybody behind,” he said.
“When we came in, the opposition had almost 50 members but today, when I counted, there were about 5 or 4 left in the opposition. Even those five members have whispered to me that I should take them to the President as they are prepared to join the APC.”
Akpabio said he did not want a completely one-party senate, adding that he had permitted some senators who had already defected to the APC in their home states but not yet formally in the chamber to remain in the minority caucus to avoid empty opposition benches.
The senate president also thanked President Bola Tinubu for the recent release of over 100 kidnapped children in Niger state, while praying for the rescue of those still in captivity.
“We thank the President for the release of over 100 children who were kidnapped very recently, and we pray to God to give him the ability and the enablement to release the remaining children to rejoin their families,” he said.
