"As a truly democratic party, we respect the right of every citizen to political association. Therefore, we urge our members to remain calm as we continue to work hard to position our party strongly for the next general elections. APC remains in firm control of 25 states of the 36 states of the federation and maintains a clear majority in the federal House of Representatives and state assemblies."
The All Progressives Congress A(PC) says it will continue to consolidate its grip on power despite Tuesday's mass defection of its members in the Senate and the House of Representatives[story_link align="left"]61424[/story_link].
The rulling party said this in reaction to the defection of its members to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the two chambers of the National Assembly[story_link align="left"]61416[/story_link].
It noted that despite the defections, it remains "in firm control of 25 states of the 36 states of the federation and maintains a clear majority in the federal House of Representatives and state assemblies".
"The All Progressives Congress (APC) notes the development in the National Assembly with the defection of some of our members from the Party," APC said in a statement by Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, its National Publicity Secretary.
"In the last couple of weeks our Party leaders have worked to stave off this situation as responsible Party leaders would do. It would appear however that the individuals involved have different considerations beyond the grievances that they were willing to discuss and which our leaders were willing to address.
"As a truly democratic party, we respect the right of every citizen to political association. Therefore, we urge our members to remain calm as we continue to work hard to position our party strongly for the next general elections. APC remains in firm control of 25 states of the 36 states of the federation and maintains a clear majority in the federal House of Representatives and state assemblies.
"We assure members and supporters that our great Party will continue to consolidate on our majority status in the leadup to the 2019 General Elections, even as our government continue to work hard to deliver on our promises to Nigerians."