The political odyssey of Senator Ogoshi Onawo took another bewildering turn on Tuesday as the lawmaker representing Nasarawa South defected from the African Democratic Congress to the Allied Peoples Movement, a move that comes just two weeks after he had dramatically left the All Progressives Congress to join the ADC. The deputy senate president, Jibrin Barau, read the senators defection letter during plenary, formally announcing his resignation from the ADC and his immediate enrollment into the APM, leaving his colleagues stunned by the speed of his latest switch.
In his letter addressed to the ADC chairman in his ward, Senator Onawo cited intractable internal crises and lingering legal disputes within the ADC as the driving forces behind his departure, stating that the party had become too fractured to allow him to effectively serve the people of Nasarawa South. He explained that his decision followed intense consultations with his political allies and supporters, and he expressed appreciation for the cooperation he received during his very brief association with the party, while noting that his resignation would take effect from June 15. The senator had only recently been among a group of nine federal lawmakers who left the APC in March to join the ADC, a mass defection that had been announced on the floor of the Senate by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, with Senator Onawo at the time praising the ADC for its commitment to democratic values and good governance.
Barely a fortnight later, those same values apparently no longer held sway for the senator, whose political journey has been marked by restless movement across party lines. He originally won his senatorial seat on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party before joining the APC, and his brief sojourn in the ADC now gives way to the APM, a party that gains an unexpected senator in the red chamber. Political observers point to his recent loss in the ADC governorship primary for Nasarawa State to retired Major General Nuhu Angbazo as a possible catalyst for his abrupt exit, though the senator himself maintained that his new alignment with the APM offers the best platform to advance the interests of his constituents. The Senate is expected to officially update its records to reflect his new party affiliation, while his constituents and political watchers across the country continue to marvel at the dizzying pace of a political career that has now touched four different parties in less than a year.
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