December 09, (THEWILL) – The prevailing leadership crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the Labour Party, LP, is beginning to take its toll on both of them.
Although the Appeal Court has restored the Julius Abure leadership of the LP, the post 2023 general election lingering crisis in the party has so divided it that factions have emerged within to the extent that the only Governor on its platform, Alex Otti, runs a Local Government system whose Chairpersons won a recently conducted LG polls in the state on the platform of another party, the Zenith Labour Party.
Last Wednesday, four out of its 34 members in the House of Representatives and one Senator out of six defected to the governing All Progressives Congress, APC. They are Senator Francis Ezenwa Onyewuchi (Imo East) Reps Bassey Akiba (Calabar Municipality/ Odukpani Federal Constituency), Reps Tochukwu Okere (Owerri Federal Constituency), Reps. Donatus Mathew (Kaura Federal Constituency.), Reps Iyawe Esosa (Oredo Federal Constituency) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau).
Similarly, their colleague from the PDP, Hon Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu also defected to the APC. While Ibori-Suenu said she took the decision because she has been excluded from the Ethiope West Council area of Delta State Chapter of the party, the five LP members fear that their future on the platform of the party hangs in the balance, considering the lingering leadership crisis.
In fact, there are indications that more members in the House will follow their defected colleagues’ footsteps in the coming days. Disclosing that more of his colleagues will still defect, Etanabene Benedict, who represents the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie federal constituency of Delta, said the LP legislators defected to the APC as a strategy ahead of the 2027 general election.
He said the lawmakers were not confident of winning re-election in 2027 on the LP platform.
“Nobody believes that if you are elected to office, there is a time limit, and when that time comes, if the people want you again, you’re re-elected; if they don’t want you, you go,” he said. “It is about 2027. The trend of Edo and Ondo is frightening to them, and they do not believe that they are strategically positioned to seek re-election under the umbrella of the Labour Party. That is the main reason.
“There are still many others in the Labour Party that are thinking along that line too. So, if it happens tomorrow. Benedict dismissed the lawmakers’ claims of an internal crisis in the LP, saying it was an excuse to justify their exit from the party.
Last Friday, the Board of Trustees of the PDP expressed deep concern over the prolonged delay in convening the party’s National Executive Committee meeting.
Chairman of the Board, Senator Adolphus Wabara, who urged the National Working Committee led by Acting Chairman Amb. Umar Damagum, to honor its commitment and schedule the NEC meeting without further delays, lamented the repeated postponements have eroded trust among party members.
In their separate reactions to the defections of their member, the officials of PDP and LP have lambasted the defectors and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately initiate the process of conducting a fresh election to fill their Federal Constituency seats in the House of Representatives.
Mr Debo Ologunagba, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, said at the weekend that the party emphasized that it is settled law that Hon. Ibori-Suenu, by defecting from the PDP, the platform under which she was elected into the House of Representatives wilfully vacated the Ethiope East/Ethiope West Federal Constituency seat.
This action, he argued, renders the seat vacant under the self-executory provision of Section 68 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
He said that “For clarity, Section 68 (1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that ‘a member of the Senate or House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if … (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.’”
He further added, “With this unambiguous constitutional provision and its clear interpretation by the Supreme Court, Hon. Ibori-Suenu has irredeemably lost her seat, along with the rights, privileges, recognition, and obligations associated with being a member of the House of Representatives.
The PDP further announced that it has officially communicated with INEC, urging the commission to conduct a fresh election within the constitutionally stipulated time frame to fill the vacancy in the Ethiope East/Ethiope West Federal Constituency of Delta State created by Hon. Ibori-Suenu’s defection to the APC.
Ologunagba’s counterpart in the LP and its National Publicity Secretary of the Obiora Ifoh, said the party has opened “A Hall of Shame” to accommodate the names of those who have so “dishonoured not only the party but the teeming number of supporters who against all odds voted them into office.”
He said the party will in the coming days approach the Speaker of the House of Representatives for him to declare the seats of the affected lawmakers vacant in line with relevant sections of the constitution.
He said, “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.
Also citing Section 68(g) of the 1999 Constitution which “Provides that 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,” he submitted that, “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.”
He lamented that the defectors did not win election because of their pedigree or financial muscles but simply 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.
“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 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’.
“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 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.
Felix Ifijeh is a journalist with years of professional reporting experience. Known for his keen news sense, compelling storytelling and commitment to accurate, impactful reporting, he has built a reputation for turning leads into clear, engaging, and well-structured reports that resonate with readers. His work reflects deep newsroom experience and a commitment to accurate, impactful journalism.
