Nine senators defected Thursday. Labour Party now has zero. Senate adjourned without the budget.

Nine senators from the Labour Party, PDP, APGA, and SDP formally defected to the African Democratic Congress on Thursday. The list includes Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto South), Ireti Kingibe (FCT), Victor Umeh (Anambra Central). Nine, in a single session.

After the reading of their defection letters, Senate President Akpabio stood up and said he was "very proud" of them.

The new arithmetic: APC holds 87 seats. ADC now has 9. PDP has 7. Labour Party: zero. SDP: zero.

Nigeria's Senate has no functioning opposition party. 106 senators. The ruling party and its immediate allies control the chamber so completely that the idea of legislative oversight is, at this point, more of a design feature nobody uses.

Then, immediately after the defections, the Senate adjourned. Until March 31. For Sallah.

The 2026 budget has not been passed. Government ministries are operating without legal appropriation. Akpabio said committee defence sessions will continue during the break and he hopes the budget passes when they return. That's the plan.

Here's what the ADC move actually is. The ADC isn't an ideology. It's a staging ground. Senators who want distance from Tinubu's brand without actually opposing him are parking there before 2027 positioning begins. Whether it becomes a real opposition or just another APC satellite will be clear in about 18 months.

What's clear now: the body supposed to check executive power has nobody whose job is checking it.