In Delta State, Hon. Benedict Etanabene, who represents the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency, has urged four members who recently switched from the Labour Party (LP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to resign from their National Assembly seats.
Etanabene emphasized that parliamentarians shouldn’t require any convincing to resign their positions, arguing that the rule on party defection is unambiguous.
Four LP lawmakers, including Chinedu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West constituency), Mathew Donatus (Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna), Akiba Bassey (Calabar Municipal/Odukpani constituency), and Esosa Iyawe (Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo), were said to have defected after Etanabene’s comments.
On the House of Representatives floor Thursday, Speaker Abbas Tajudeen publicly announced their defection.
Etanabene responded to the news on Channels Television’s Politics Today, saying, “You were elected by this party and now that you’re in power, you feel the need to switch to a another party.
“That issue doesn’t require an explanation. They ought to have just departed the assembly after packing their loads. The truth is that.
“That is what the law says.” To prevent such circumstances, this was drafted into the law. However, I can assure you that it is permitted in this nation and that it does occur occasionally.
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Nigeria’s legal system, Etanabene clarified, only permits a lawmaker to change parties without losing their seat in the event of a national split within their former party.
He emphasized that the court has confirmed that Julius Abure is currently leading the Labour Party.
Otherwise, it’s obvious. It is impossible to leave the party that elected you to office and join another one if there isn’t a national party split. It is obvious. A party’s division must be decided by the court; no one has the right to presume or postulate a division on their own.
“The National Working Committee (NWC), chaired by Julius Abure, is the true leadership of the party, according to the Nigerian court today, despite the dispute that occurred a few months ago. Does the court have any orders that go against that? I have no idea,” he added.
As permitted by Nigeria’s election regulations, the Labour Party has subsequently stated its intention to advocate for the declaration of the defectors’ seats as vacant.
Though previous examples indicate otherwise, Etanabene voiced skepticism that the House of Representatives leadership would act in this manner.
Therefore, I do not think that their actions were legal. As soon as the statement was made yesterday, everyone should be sitting down by today in a rational society with strict rules.
“This house leadership won’t likely announce their seats are up for grabs. Although that has been the trend, we must keep challenging that behavior from a legal standpoint,” he said.
