The political landscape in the National Assembly has shifted once again as Senator Sunday Agadaga, representing Bayelsa East Senatorial District, has formally resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Agadaga’s defection was announced in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during Wednesday’s plenary session.
The letter, titled “Notice of Resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party and Formal Movement and Defection to the All Progressives Congress,” cited internal crises within the PDP and the senator’s desire for a new political direction as reasons for his decision.
“As the saying goes, change is the only permanent thing in life,” Agadaga wrote.
“Indeed, as the Holy Scriptures remind us, to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens. I believe that the time for change in my political sojourn on earth has come.”
A Difficult but Decisive Move
Agadaga noted that the decision to leave the PDP was “not taken lightly,” acknowledging that his political career had greatly benefited from the party’s platform.
“This tough decision was made even after my appointment as Permanent Secretary,” he said.
“And this was at a time when permanent secretaries were, even though not so permanent, but were very prominent.”
He recounted his years of public service under successive PDP administrations in Bayelsa State, including his tenure as Executive Chairman of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board during the administration of former Governor Goodluck Jonathan, and as Special Adviser under former Governor Seriake Dickson.
Agadaga also served as Chief of Staff to the current Bayelsa State Governor, Duoye Diri.
“I wish to express my profound gratitude to God Almighty and to my supporters in the then Peoples Democratic Party for the opportunity given to me to serve in those capacities,” he said.
“The fact that I stand today as a distinguished senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is due to the benevolence of the then Peoples Democratic Party when it was intact and the goodwill of numerous well-wishers.”
‘PDP Has Been Torn to Shreds’
Explaining the rationale behind his defection, Senator Agadaga cited the deep internal divisions within the PDP both at the state and national levels.
“It is both astonishing and deeply disturbing that the once proud and largest political party in Africa has been turned into shreds due to internal wranglings and irreconcilable differences at both the state and national levels,” he lamented.
He said after wide-ranging consultations, he concluded that joining the APC represented a path toward renewed political progress and national hope.
“Taking cognisance of these unhealthy political developments within the Peoples Democratic Party as it is today, and after wide-ranging consultations, I have finally arrived at the inevitable conclusion that progressivism—thinking progressive, beginning progressive, and acting progressively—is the only way to renew the hope of all Nigerians in Nigeria,” Agadaga stated.
“I am therefore constrained to formally declare my resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party and hereby announce my defection to the All Progressives Congress, which will take effect from today, the 29th of October, 2025.”
Political Implications
Agadaga’s defection marks yet another high-profile loss for the PDP in the Senate and further strengthens the APC’s numerical advantage in the upper chamber. It also deepens the cracks within the PDP ahead of future elections, particularly in the South-South region where the party has historically held sway.
