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).
Henzodaily reported that 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.
“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.
“For emphasis, you will recall that the leadership of the party in 2022, in line with the party’s manifesto, threw the doors of the party open to all Nigerians who desire to be in the leadership cadre but could not because of the monetization policies of some of the octopus parties then in existence. The Labour Party thought it wise to percolate power down to the grassroot to serve the intended population rather than allowing power to be exclusively for the urbane and rich few. Labour Party did not only give out free membership cards but also gave out free nomination forms to as many that could not afford the ridiculously low fees.
“Thousands, including Okada riders, brick layers, young unemployed graduates, and artisans of all sorts including a palm kernel crusher in Enugu, took advantage of the party’s policy to participate in the 2023 general election, for which many of them won their elections. These deserters did not win because of their pedigree or financial muscles but simple because of the ticket they ran on and by the grace of millions of people that vowed to see the end to the ‘entitlement mentality’ of a few cabal. Nigerians invested their tears and blood; their all to see these changes, entrusted their future on these neophyte lawmakers hoping that they will represent them well, but sooner than they were initiated into the cabal club with N160 million limousine and other pecuniary allowances running into hundreds of millions, they easily derailed.
“It would be recalled that a 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 of 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.
“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 include 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). These lawmakers will feature prominently in the register.
“On that note, we will call on Nigerians to beware of these genre of politicians lacking in clear democratic ideology and ethos rather than ‘Jumpology’ ideology; jumping from one party to the other, in disregard to the enabling laws and without any ideological leaning. If we really want this democracy to thrive, we must isolate these political merchants and opportunists and help bury their mercantilist political enterprise by snubbing, affronting and rejecting them in future polls having exhibited grave level of character deficit by betraying public trust.
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