By Chesa Chesa & Mercy Aikoye
Five members of the House of Representatives have formally defected from the Labour Party (LP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, announced the defection on the floor of the Green Chamber on Thursday. Four of the defected members are from the Labour Party, while one member is from the Peoples Democratic Party.
The lawmakers from the Labour Party who defected are Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau).
The sole defector from the Peoples Democratic Party is Erhriatake Ibori-Suenu, daughter of former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori.
The defected members cited the alignment of their ideologies with those of the APC, as well as the crises and divisions within their former parties, as reasons for their defection.
The Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, congratulated them for having “taken the right decision”, and welcomed the defected members to the APC.
However, the Minority Whip of the House, Ali Isa, and the Deputy Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi, protested the defections. Ozodinobi, an LP chieftain, criticized his former colleagues, saying they had no ideology.
The leadership of the Labour Party also reacted angrily, saying that it has opened ‘Hall of Shame’ register for the defecting lawmakers, and other elected officers.
A statement issued by party spokesman, Obiora Ifoh, described the defection as unfortunate “and we condemn the action which is irrational, untenable, inconsistent and alien to all known norms for which democracy stands for”.
The statement argued that the defecting lawmakers breached Section 68(g) of the 1999 Constitution as there was no division in the party or had it merged with another party.
It stated that its internal challenges arising from its phenomenal performance in the 2023 general elections had been dealt with under Julius Abure as Chairman.
“The successes achieved at that election expectedly elicited some pockets of internal pressure which have since being dealt with through internal peace mechanism and also through judicial means.
“Presently, while some other big parties are swimming in their own political tempest, Labour Party has since moved on having resolved all its challenges. It is therefore safe to say that there is absolute peace in the Labour Party. Therefore, no one elected on the ticket of the Labour Party has the constitutional protection to decamp from the party along with the party’s mandate”, Ifoh declared.
He stated: “Though, the Labour Party leadership is undaunted by the defection, it has however, elected not to allow it slide and has therefore instructed its legal team to commence the legal actions against the defectors and to also commence the process of regaining our mandates in line with the 1999 constitution and 2022 Electoral Act as amended.
The party will also approach the Speaker of the House of Representatives to declare vacant the seats occupied by these former Labour Party members in line with the House Rules. It is inappropriate and unacceptable for the these lawmakers to continue to function as representatives of their constituencies illegally.
The party has also decided to open a ‘Hall of Shame’ register for these lawmakers or any lawmaker or elected officer of the party who engages in fraudulent act of defection without first dropping the mandate gotten under the ticket of the party.”
The following lawmakers: 1; Senator Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi (Imo East) 2. Reps Bassey Akiba (Calabar Municipality/ Odukpani Federal Constituency) 3. Reps Tochukwu Okere (Owerri Federal Constituency), 4. Reps. Donatus Mathew (Kaura Federal Constituency.), 5. Reps Iyawe Esosa (Oredo Federal Constituency) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau) will feature prominently in the register, he added.
