LAGOS, Nigeria – Five key governors say they have defected to Nigeria's new coalition opposition in a blow to President Goodluck Jonathan's governing party and its chances for re-election in 2015.
The defectors include the powerful governors of oil-rich Rivers State in the mainly Christian south and Kano, the second most populous state in the predominantly Muslim north.
A statement posted Wednesday by the All Progressives Congress quoted the defectors' leader, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, a former ruling party chairman, as saying the dissidents agreed to a merger "to rescue our fledgling democracy."
Jonathan's party has governed the oil-rich nation since decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999.
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