Victor Ezeja
Labour Party has vowed to take legal action against four House of Representatives members who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the party.
The party stated this while reacting to news of the defection of the lawmakers.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPrime Business Africa reports that Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, announced the lawmakers’ defection during plenary on Thursday. The lawmakers include Tochukwu Okere (representing Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West constituency, Imo State), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), and Iyawe Esosa (Edo).
The lawmakers said their action was based on what they described as an “internal crisis” within the Labour Party.
However, the Labour Party, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, condemned the action of the lawmakers, describing it as “irrational, untenable, inconsistent and alien to all known norms for which democracy stands for.”
“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,” part of the statement read.
The party said though it is unfazed by the defection of the lawmakers, it has however, decided not to allow the matter slide and has therefore instructed its legal team to commence legal actions against the defectors and to also begin the process of regaining the party’s mandates in line with the 1999 constitution and 2022 Electoral Act as amended.
The party argued that Section 68(g) of the 1999 constitution is clear on when to defect and what happens when a lawmaker sponsored by a political party decides to jump ship.
It emphasised that according to the provisions of the 1999 constitution, the only ground for defection by a lawmaker is when there is internal crisis leading to division within a party.
The party claimed that it has since resolved all its challenges and is currently united. “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.”
The statement further stated that 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.”
“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,” it added.
