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Nigeria's Ruling APC Bleeds as Key Figures Abandon Buhari

  • Northern governor, Senate president join opposition PDP
  • Defections accelerate before general elections in February
A man walks with an All Progressive Congress (APC) political party flag during a Democracy Day parade. 

A man walks with an All Progressive Congress (APC) political party flag during a Democracy Day parade. 

Photographer: Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images

Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari lost a key supporter in his northern stronghold, a day after the senate president walked out of the ruling party amid a wave of defections to a swelling opposition movement ahead of elections in February.

The governor of northwestern Sokoto state, Aminu Tambuwal, left the All Progressives Congress Wednesday to join the People’s Democratic Party, which ruled Nigeria for 16 years until Buhari’s 2015 win, the governor’s spokesman Abu Shekara said by phone.