Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Adamawa State House of Assembly has become the latest theatre of Nigeria's restless political realignment, and its Speaker, Bathiya Wesley, is at the centre of a storm he insists he never asked for. In an exclusive interview with PUNCH Online on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, Wesley's Press Secretary, Bernard Hyellamada, categorically denied reports that the Speaker had concluded plans to dump the All Progressives Congress for the Action People's Movement. "Let me tell you categorically that the speaker is not going anywhere, he remain in APC till after 2027 general elections," Hyellamada stated, describing the rumour as fake information and insisting that Wesley had no intention of abandoning the party after investing his energy and resources in promoting it to a high level.
The denial came barely 24 hours after a political earthquake shook the Adamawa APC. On Monday, September 14, 2026, the former Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly and serving member representing Yola South State Constituency, Kabiru Mijinyawa, resigned his membership of the APC and defected to the APM alongside thousands of his supporters. Mijinyawa did not go quietly. In his resignation, he accused his former party of practising autocracy instead of democracy, alleging that the APC in Adamawa State was being run as a private estate by a few individuals to the detriment of the party's progress. His exit came just two days after hundreds of party chieftains, led by Tahir Shehu, had also defected to the APM, deepening a crisis that has been building for months.
The immediate trigger for the defections appears to be the conduct of the APC's primary elections. An APC executive member, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to journalists, told PUNCH Online that the genesis of the crisis started during the primaries, when candidates were allegedly picked without respecting the rule of law. The same source claimed that the Speaker's planned defection was aimed at securing a House of Representatives ticket after he was denied the opportunity to contest on the APC platform. "The speaker is defecting to pick his National Assembly ticket in APM," the source alleged. "He was contesting for House of Representatives, but some people use their office powers and send him away".
The scale of the discontent is not new. In May 2026, no fewer than 70 aggrieved aspirants threatened to dump the party over the conduct of the National Assembly primaries, with widespread protests, allegations of manipulation, and the burning of houses reported across the state. The crisis has festered for months, with the governorship primary also hit by petitions alleging irregularities. The defections of Mijinyawa and Shehu are the culmination of a slow-burning rebellion that the party leadership has failed to contain. The APC's loss of a former Speaker and a prominent chieftain in the space of three days is a clear signal that the party's internal cohesion in Adamawa is disintegrating, and that the 2027 elections could be fought on a very different political terrain than the one that existed in 2023.
For Wesley, the pressure is immense. He was elected to the House of Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, and in February 2026, he led 14 other lawmakers in a mass resignation from the PDP amid rumours that Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri was planning to defect to the APC. That defection was widely seen as a strategic move to align the legislature with the ruling party at the federal level. Now, just seven months later, the APC he joined is fracturing around him, and the rumour mill has placed him at the centre of the next wave of defections.
Hyellamada's denial was emphatic, but it was also telling. The fact that the Speaker's office felt compelled to issue a statement at all is a recognition that the rumour had gained traction. The Press Secretary's insistence that Wesley would remain in the APC "till after 2027 general elections" is a commitment that, if honoured, would make him one of the few political actors in Adamawa to resist the centrifugal forces pulling the party apart. But commitments in Nigerian politics are often contingent on political calculations, and the Speaker's decision may ultimately depend on whether the APC can resolve the grievances that have driven others out the door.
The implications for the Adamawa House of Assembly are significant. Party affiliations in the Assembly have shifted repeatedly over the past year, and the balance of power has been in constant flux. If Wesley were to defect, it would further weaken the APC's already fragile majority and embolden the opposition. But the Speaker has staked his political reputation on staying, and his decision to remain could serve as a stabilising force for a party that is bleeding support by the day. Alternatively, it could isolate him within a party that is increasingly dominated by a faction that, according to Mijinyawa, operates as a private estate.
As the 2027 elections approach, the political landscape in Adamawa is shifting beneath the feet of those who believe they control it. The APC's internal crisis is far from resolved, and the defections are likely to continue unless the party's leadership addresses the root causes of the discontent. For now, Wesley has chosen to stand his ground. His press secretary says he is not going anywhere. But in a political environment where loyalty is tested daily, and where the door to the APM appears to be wide open, the Speaker's decision to stay may prove to be either an act of principle or a temporary pause before the inevitable. The coming weeks will tell.
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