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The Adamawa State House of Assembly has shifted decisively toward the ruling All Progressives Congress after Speaker Bathiya Wesley led a third consecutive wave of resignations from the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday, bringing the total number of lawmakers who have abandoned the party within three days to 16, more than three-fifths of the 25-member chamber, in a coordinated departure that multiple sources say is designed to clear the path for Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s anticipated defection ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Speaker Wesley announced the resignations during Wednesday’s plenary session by reading each letter aloud on the floor of the chamber, citing “lingering irreconcilable issues within the ranks of the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party” as the stated reason across all letters. He confirmed that he and Deputy Speaker Mohammed Buba Jidjiwa had also resigned their own PDP memberships. House Majority Leader Kate Mamuno, who represents Demsa Local Government Area, was among those who departed on Wednesday, alongside Moses Yerima Zah of Michika Constituency, Pwamwakeno Mackondo of Numan, Adun John Alaba of Uba Gaya, Bulus Kantom of Shelleng, Musa Mahmud Kallamu of Mayo Belwa, and Japhet Hammanjabu of Verre Constituency.
The Wednesday exits were the third instalment in a rolling sequence of defections that began quietly on Monday. Abubakar Abdullahi, representing Girei State Constituency, opened the gate on Monday, February 23. Six others followed on Tuesday, February 24, including Deputy Speaker Jidjiwa, Kefas Kalvin of Toungo, Bulus Geoffrey of Leko and Koma, Haruna Jilantikiri of Madagali, Kefas Emmanuel of Song, and Ahmed Jingi Bele of Maiha Constituency. Wednesday’s session then produced the largest single-day departure.
With 15 lawmakers now formally outside the PDP, the House has effectively become APC-dominated, giving the ruling party overwhelming control of legislative business, oversight functions, and impeachment proceedings if needed. Only the member representing Lamurde Constituency, Bauna Build, was unaccounted for during Wednesday’s plenary, having been neither visibly present nor recorded as having made any statement during the session.
House Committee on Information Chairman Musa Kallamu, himself among the departing lawmakers, confirmed that the decision stemmed directly from the ongoing crisis within the PDP’s national body. “It stems from the differences within the party’s national body,” he said, adding that the decision was made in the interest of political stability and alignment with current realities. Speaker Wesley’s Chief Press Secretary Bernard Hyelamada told journalists that the lawmakers had yet to formally decide which party they would join, though the APC is widely understood to be their destination.
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The legislative exodus cannot be separated from Governor Fintiri’s own political trajectory. Multiple senior sources in both camps have described the Assembly defections as a deliberate pre-emptive consolidation, designed to establish a protective legislative majority before the governor moves himself. Governor Fintiri publicly acknowledged the scale of his intended political leverage at a recent function, stating that he has in his camp three senators, five members of the House of Representatives, 16 state assembly members, and all 21 local government chairpersons.
The groundwork on the APC’s side has also been visible. APC National Secretary Ajibola Basiru confirmed on a TVC broadcast that the party had placed its Adamawa state congresses on hold, citing anticipated political developments in the state.
The postponement, widely interpreted as a concession to accommodate Governor Fintiri and his political structure without triggering internal resistance or immediate leadership contests, prompted murmurs among APC loyalists questioning whether internal democratic processes were being subordinated to facilitate a high-profile crossover.
The governor has offered his own carefully calibrated signals. Last Saturday he hosted a delegation of APC leaders, led by the party’s North-East zonal chairperson Mustapha Salihu, for a Ramadan Iftar dinner at the Government House in Yola. Governor Fintiri framed the gathering in conciliatory terms, saying the meeting was meant to “strengthen dialogue, deepen cooperation, and reinforce our collective commitment to peace, stability, and sustainable development in Adamawa State.” He has stopped short of a formal declaration, telling supporters at a separate public function that he would move to whatever party his people directed him to join.
The political context is significant beyond Adamawa’s borders. Should Governor Fintiri proceed with his defection, he would follow the lead of Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas, who has already crossed to the APC, leaving Bauchi as the only state in the North-East still governed by the PDP.
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The PDP won governorship elections in all three of those states — Adamawa, Taraba, and Bauchi — in 2023. Governor Fintiri secured re-election that year by a margin of 3.75 percent over the APC’s candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, in what was regarded at the time as a consolidation of the PDP’s hold on the state. The PDP’s Adamawa state publicity secretary, Victor Dogo, told The Punch that all PDP National Assembly members from the state were expected to follow Governor Fintiri should he formally defect.
The PDP’s national-level crisis, cited uniformly across all resignation letters, has been building since internal disputes over the party’s leadership structure and zoning arrangements intensified following the party’s loss of the 2023 presidential election. The crisis has fuelled a broader pattern of defections in which multiple state-level PDP structures have migrated or are migrating to the APC as the 2027 cycle approaches.
Nigeria’s anti-defection provisions, contained in Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution, permit lawmakers to cross party lines without forfeiting their seats where a defection is attributable to a division within or merger of the political party on which they were elected. The ongoing PDP national crisis provides the constitutional justification the departing lawmakers require to retain their seats despite switching allegiances.
Governor Fintiri had not issued a formal statement on his own party status as of Wednesday evening. No date for a formal defection announcement had been confirmed by the governor’s office or the APC.
