The leadership of the Labour Party on Thursday, announced that the party has opened a ” Hall of Shame” register for defector lawmakers and officials elected under the party’s platform.
Five lawmakers on the platform of the party to the ruling All Progressive Congress APC at the National Assembly, on Thursday
Obiora Ifoh, National Publicity Secretary of the party, in a statement on Thursday, said the party has received with discontentment the news of defection of some lawmakers representing the party in the National Assembly to the ruling APC.
He named the members who defected at the House of Representatives to include; Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau).
He announced that their letter of defection to the APC was read in the Green Chamber by 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.”
Ifoh while citing Section 68(g) of the 1999 constitution, he noted that “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”
He recalled how in 2023 general election the party achieved its highest feat under the leadership of Julius Abure, by winning one 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 the Labour Party won.
”The successes achieved at that election expectedly elicited some pockets of internal pressure which have since been dealt with through internal peace mechanism and also through judicial means.
“Presently, while some other big parties are swimming in their own political tempest, the 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.
He recalled how the Labour Party Women Leader in Kaduna State, Victoria Chintex was assassinated in 2022 while working for candidates of the party in the state including one Okada rider, Donatus Mathew, who eventually won as a member of the House of Reps for Kaura constituency.
In his case, he said he defected because he is the sole Labour Party member in the whole Northwest region and not because the party is in any crisis.
”Hon Mathew practically spit on the grave of late Chantex and disrespected thousands of party members in Kaduna who toiled to elect him into position of power. This is why the party, arising from a recent unfortunate activity, did say that ‘the beautiful ones are not yet born’.
“In the case of Reps Okere, Akiba, Esosa and Fom, these men got into their positions on a platter as the party issued them solitary tickets, funded their campaigns, stretched backwards to defend them in the tribunal, gifting them waivers and spending fortunes administratively to ensure they were not removed. Interestingly, none of these ingrates remembered to send a kobo to the party in their 18 months of their legislative adventure as a way of check-off dues. No support to the party whatsoever since their inauguration. They simply forgot where they were coming from.
The party said it’s leadership is undaunted by the defection, adding that it has 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 these lawmakers to continue to function as representatives of their constituencies illegally.
