The defection of some of the Labour Party’s (LP) members to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives has been deemed shameful.
According to reports, the defection letters of Bassey Akiba of Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Cross River; Donatus Mathew of Kaura Federal Constituency, Kaduna; and Tochukwu Okere of Owerri Federal Constituency, Imo, were read by Speaker of the House Tajudeen Abbas during Thursday’s plenary.
Iyawe Esosa, Oredo Federal Constituency, Edo and Daulyop Fom, Barkin Ladi/Riyom Constituency Plateau, and others who switched from the Labour Party to the APC are among them.
Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi, a senator from Imo State’s Imo East Senatorial District, also switched from the LP to the APC.
In a statement on Thursday, Obiorah Ifo, the National Publicity Secretary for the Julius Abure-led administration, denounced the MPs’ action.
In order to elect them, he criticized the parliamentarians for ignoring the sacrifices made by Nigerians in the 2023 election.
According to Ifo, the legislators’ actions were unreasonable, unsustainable, and against democratic standards.
“Today, the Labour Party leadership was disappointed to learn that some of its members in the National Assembly had defected to the ruling APC.” Iyawe Esosa (Edo), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Tochukwu Okere (Imo), and Daulyop Fom (Plateau) are among the members of the Representatives. On the floor of the Green Chamber, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas read their letter of defection to the APC.
Read Also: N20bn Consumer Credit Fund Announced by CREDICORP, NADDC for Local Automobiles
“The action is irrational, untenable, inconsistent, and at odds with all known norms that democracy stands for, and we find the defection to be quite unfortunate.”The 1999 Constitution’s Section 68(g) is very clear about when to defect and what becomes of a lawmaker who chooses to leave their party. The Constitution stipulates that if an individual whose election to the House was supported by a political party joins another party before the time frame for which that House was elected has passed, and
As long as he hasn’t joined the latter party because of a split within the party he was formerly a part of or because two or more political parties or factions merged, one of which had previously supported him;
Since its founding in 2002, the Labour Party has been a major player in politics, having previously produced a governor and a number of other elected officials. However, it accomplished its greatest accomplishment in the general election of 2023, led by Barrister Julius Abure, when it won a seat as governor, eight Senate seats, thirty-five House of Representatives seats, and several state House of Assembly seats. Many Nigerians still thought the Labour Party won the presidential election, but the party also caused a significant upset.
It was to be expected that the election’s successes would cause some internal strain, which has since been addressed by internal peace mechanisms and the legal system. While some other major parties are currently adrift in their own political storm, the Labour Party has moved on after overcoming all of its obstacles. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the Labour Party is at complete peace. Consequently, neither the party’s mandate nor the constitutional protection to leave the party are available to anyone elected on the Labour Party ticket.
You will remember, for emphasis, that the party’s leadership in 2022, in accordance with the party’s manifesto, opened the party to all Nigerians who wanted to join the leadership cadre but were unable to do so due to the monetization practices of some of the octopus parties that were then in power. The Labour Party believed that rather than limiting power to the wealthy and urbane elite, it would be prudent to spread power to the grassroots level in order to benefit the target populace. For those who could not afford the absurdly cheap fees, the Labour Party provided free nomination forms in addition to free membership cards.
