Nigeria, May 13 -- The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is not coercing lawmakers into defecting from opposition parties.

He said recent defections to the ruling party, including those of three senators from Kebbi State on Tuesday, were voluntary and reflective of lawmakers' recognition of the APC's political agenda and governance direction.

"We are not at the polls. No one is being coerced," Mr Bamidele said. "If anyone would be coerced, definitely it is not the Senator Adamu Aliero that I know and that all of us know. It is not Professor Yahya Abdullahi that would be coerced by anyone, nor is it Senator Maidoki who had also made a mark in the private sector before he ever ventur...