Senator Abaribe Was Never Expelled, Voluntarily Resigned, APGA Clarifies

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

The All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, has vehemently rejected claims suggesting that the party expelled Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.

The Source reports that the Senator representing Abia South Senatorial District at the National Assembly had predicated his defection to the opposition Coalition platform, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, on his purported expulsion from the APGA.

About nine Senators, including Abaribe, had on Thursday March 12, 2025, formally notified the leadership of the red chamber of the National Assembly of their decision to resign from their original political parties to join forces with the ADC.

However , while the Senate accepted the letter from the other eight defecting Senators, that of Abaribe was serious interrogated, and rejected by the Senate leadership on the grounds that there is no manifest leadership or internal crises within the APGA to warrant Abaribe’s defection.

Citing relevant sections of the constitution to buttress their position, the leadership gave Senator Abaribe till the next sitting for the Senator to tender  the expulsion letter from APGA, as well as withdraw the notice of defection to avoid having his seat declared vacant.

“We will give you until our next sitting to reconsider, or the chamber will take a position” Senate President Godswill Akpabio had stated .

Earlier, Senator Abaribe had urged the Senate to accept his letter of defection as he had long seized to be a member of APGA by virtue of his suspension, and later expulsion.

But while speaking with the media on the issue, the Abia State Chairman of APGA, Sunday Onukwubiri, informed that the Abia South Senator voluntarily resigned his membership of the party towards the end of last year.

According to him, Senator Abaribe official submitted his letter of resignation from APGA on December 30, 2025, to the Chairman of the party in Abiaba Ward 5 in Obingwa Local Council of the state.

“Let it be known that Senator Abaribe was not expelled from the party. He resigned from the party on December 30, 2025, and submitted his resignation letter to the Abiaba Ward 5 chairman of the APGA in Obingwa Local Government Area.

“If Senator Abaribe was actually sacked as he is claiming in September 2025, why then did he submit a letter of resignation in December 2025?

“Ordinarily, anyone who has been expelled is no longer a member of the party. But after three months of the purported expulsion, he (Abaribe) submitted a letter of resignation”, Onukwubiri added.

The APGA Chairman, however, admitted that one of the longest serving Senators in the country, was in July 2025,  suspended over alleged gross anti-party activities.

But according to him, Senator Abaribe never bothered to respond to the queries served on him, and also did not make any efforts  to enquire about what led to his suspension.