The Labour Party (LP) has described as disgraceful, the defection of some of the party’s lawmakers in the House of Representatives to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, during plenary on Thursday, read the defection letters of Tochukwu Okere, Owerri Federal Constituency, Imo; Donatus Mathew, Kaura Federal Constituency, Kaduna; Bassey Akiba, Calabar Municipality/Odukpani Federal Constituency, Cross River.
Others include Iyawe Esosa, Oredo Federal Constituency, Edo and Daulyop Fom, Barkin Ladi/Riyom Constituency Plateau, from the Labour Party to the APC.
Also, Senator Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi representing Imo East Senatorial District of Imo State defected from LP to APC.
In a statement, on Thursday, the National Publicity Secretary of Julius Abure-led executive, Obiorah Ifo, condemned the move of the lawmakers.
He decried that the lawmakers chose to ignore the sacrifices made by Nigerians during the 2023 election to elect them.
Ifo said the actions of the lawmakers were irrational, untenable and inconsistent with the norms of democracy.
It read: “The leadership of the Labour Party has received with discontentment the news of defection, today of some lawmakers representing the party in the National Assembly to the ruling APC. The Reps members include Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau). Their letter of defection to the APC was read on the Green Chamber floor by the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas.
“The defection, to us, is quite unfortunate and we condemn the action which is irrational, untenable, inconsistent and alien to all known norms for which democracy stands for.
“Section 68(g) of the 1999 constitution is emphatic on when to defect and what happens when a lawmaker sponsored by a political party decides to jump ship. The Constitution states (g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected;
Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored;
“Since the formation of Labour Party in 2002, the party has been very active in the political scene having in the past produced a governor and several other elected officers across board. But it was in the 2023 general election that it achieved its highest feat under the leadership of Barrister Julius Abure having won a governorship seat, 8 Senate and 35 House of Representative seats as well as numerous state House of Assembly seats. The party also caused a major upset at the presidential election, one that many Nigerians still believed that Labour Party won.”
