TheCable

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has congratulated Emmanuel Bwacha, senator representing Taraba south, for defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

President Muhammadu Buhari formally received Bwacha into the party at a short ceremony at the presidential villa last week.

A letter formally announcing his defection to the ruling party from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was read on the floor of the senate on Tuesday.

In the letter read by Lawan, Bwacha said he dumped the PDP because of “huge division and factionalisation” of the party in his state.

After reading the letter, Lawan described the senator’s decision as “deserving”.

“Let me congratulate you for taking the most deserving decision to flow along with your constituents who have seen the real thing on the ground,” the senate president said.

“What you have related here is that you have seen the presence of infrastructure in your constituency and your people have identified with the infrastructure and they ask that you see the light and you have seen the light.”

With Bwacha’s defection, the APC now has 70 senators in the red chamber, the PDP has 38 and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) has one.

The defecting senator has lost his position as a principal officer of the senate.

He will be replaced after the PDP caucus takes a decision on the vacant position.