Four members of the House of Representatives have defected from the Labour Party (LP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Tajudeen Abbas, the Speaker of the House, announced the lawmakers’ defection during a session of the green chamber on Thursday.
The lawmakers who defected include Chinedu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West Federal Constituency), Mathew Donatus (Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna), Akiba Bassey (Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency of Cross River), and Esosa Iyawe (Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo).
They attributed their defection to the alleged crisis within the LP. Abbas congratulated the legislators, stating that they had “taken the right decision.”
Additionally, Erhriatake Ibori-Suenu, who represents the Ethiope Federal Constituency in Delta, also defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC. Ibori-Suenu is the daughter of James Ibori, a former governor of Delta and a prominent member of the PDP.
Ali Isa, the Minority Whip, and George Ozodinobi, the Deputy Minority Whip, protested the defections. Ozodinobi, an LP chieftain, stated that his colleagues lacked a political ideology. He remarked, “When people enter a political party without an ideology, you see such levels of defection.”
Ozodinobi also criticized the APC, saying it has “brought hunger to Nigerians,” and urged lawmakers not to join the party.
In recent weeks, both the LP and the PDP have lost several legislators to the APC. In July, Ezenwa Onyewuchi, the senator representing Imo East, defected from the LP to the APC. In October, Chris Nkwonta and Sulaiman Abubakar left the PDP for the APC.
Source: theCable
