In a significant political shift, four members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives have defected from the Labour Party (LP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The announcement was made on Thursday, December 5, 2024, by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, during a plenary session at the green chamber.
The defecting lawmakers are:
- Chinedu Okere: Representing Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West Federal Constituency.
- Mathew Donatus: Representing Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna State.
- Akiba Bassey: Representing Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency of Cross River State.
- Esosa Iyawe: Representing Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo State.
The legislators cited internal crises within the Labour Party as their primary reason for leaving.
Abbas congratulated the legislators, saying they had “taken the right decision”.
Erhriatake Ibori-Suenu, who represents Ethiope federal constituency of Delta, also defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
Ibori-Suenu is the daughter of James Ibori, former Delta governor and chieftain of the PDP.
Ali Isa, Minority whip, and George Ozodinobi, Deputy Minority whip, protested the defections.
Ozodinobi, an LP chieftain, said his colleagues had no ideology.
“When people enter a political party without ideology, you see such level of defection,” he said.
Ozodinobi said the APC has “brought hunger to Nigerians” and lawmakers should not be joining the party.
The LP and PDP have lost some legislators to the APC in recent weeks.
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