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Fifteen Nigerian senators defected from the ruling party of President Muhammadu Buhari, facing severe internal dissension in just over six months of presidential elections, Senate President Bukola Saraki announced yesterday. "More than 15 people have closed the camp, have defected" Congress of Progressives (Apc) to join the main opposition party, the People's Democratic Party (PDP), announced Mr. Saraki at the last plenary session of the Senate before parliamentary recess
The list of senators who joined the opposition included Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former influential Kano governor, who was seen as a potential candidate for the February presidential election 2019.
The rumors of massive defections have been going on for weeks, the Apc being crossed by major dissensions, which led to the creation in early July of a protest movement within the party, the Apc reformed (Apc ).
M. Saraki, whose differences with President Buhari are notorious although he is still an official member of the Apc, is suspected of being at the origin of the Apc and massive rallies to the opposition.
The Supreme Court Nigeria has recently raised charges of corruption against Mr. Saraki after a long court battle that he described as a political witch hunt.
But the Senate Speaker was convened yesterday by the Nigerian police , accused of having ordered a series of robberies of banks in his political stronghold, the state of Kwara, last April. In a statement issued the night before yesterday, Saraki denounced a "ploy" to prevent the imminent defections of parliamentarians of the ruling party.
AFP
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