A past statement credited to Senate President Godswill Akpabio has resurfaced online amid a wave of defections currently rocking the Nigerian Senate.

The statement, believed to be from November 2016 when Akpabio was a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), declared that any senator who defects from the party on whose platform they were elected must forfeit their seat.

“As lawmakers, Senators must not encourage political rascality. That is why PDP Senators today staged a walkout to protest the purported defection of Senator Yele Omogunwa, who was elected on the platform of the PDP but claimed he wants to defect to the APC to support the Governor-elect of his state. The constitution is clear on this: if a Senator defects to another political party, he loses his seat,” Akpabio posted on his official Facebook page at the time.

Nearly a decade later, Akpabio, now Senate President under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is under fire for allegedly shielding senators defecting from opposition parties, particularly the PDP, into the APC fold.

In recent weeks, the Senate has witnessed a string of high-profile defections from the PDP to the APC. On May 9, 2025, all three serving PDP senators from Kebbi State announced their defection to the APC after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The defecting senators are Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) and Garba Maidoki (Kebbi South).

In February, Ned Nwoko, the senator representing Delta North, also formally joined the APC.

Despite these defections, Akpabio has not called for any of the senators’ seats to be declared vacant, drawing criticism and accusations of double standards.

In a symbolic protest reminiscent of Akpabio’s 2016 stance, PDP senators recently walked out of plenary in protest, demanding that the Senate leadership uphold constitutional provisions and address what they described as “legislative banditry”.

Speaking on behalf of the protesting lawmakers, Senator Abba Moro (Benue South) said: “We cannot stand by and watch as the sanctity of our democratic institutions is eroded by political expediency. If the Senate President once believed in protecting party mandates, he must now prove it by his actions.”

The resurfaced Facebook post has triggered widespread reactions, with many Nigerians accusing Akpabio of hypocrisy and questioning his consistency on constitutional matters.