LP Lawmaker calls for Reps who joined APC to vacate Assembly seats

Delta State’s Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency is represented by Hon. Benedict Etanabene, who has urged four MPs who recently switched from the Labour Party (LP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to resign from their National Assembly seats.
Etanabene maintained that the law regarding party defection is unambiguous and emphasized that parliamentarians shouldn’t require any convincing to resign their positions.

According to reports, Etanabene’s comments come after four LP lawmakers defected: Mathew Donatus (Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna), Akiba Bassey (Calabar Municipal/Odukpani constituency), Chinedu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West constituency), and Esosa Iyawe (Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo).

Speaker Abbas Tajudeen publicly announced their departure on Thursday on the House of Representatives floor.

“You were voted into office by this party and you’re now there, you now see the need to jump to another party,” Etanabene said in response to the news on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

“There is no need to explain that topic. They ought to have just packed up their belongings and departed from the gathering. That’s the reality.

That is the law’s provision. The purpose of this law’s drafting was to prevent circumstances such as these. However, I can assure you that it does occur occasionally and is legal in this nation.

According to Nigerian law, a lawmaker can only change parties without losing their position if there is a nationwide split within their old party, Etanabene clarified.

He emphasized that Julius Abure is currently leading the Labour Party, a position that the court has confirmed.

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If not, it’s obvious. You cannot abandon the party that put you in office by joining another one if there isn’t a national party split. It’s obvious. The division of the party must be determined by the court; speculating or assuming a division is not within anyone’s whims.

Even during the clashes a few months ago, the Nigerian court ruled that the National Working Committee (NWC), chaired by Julius Abure, is the true leadership of the party. Is there a court order that goes against that? “I don’t know,” he answered.

Since then, the Labour Party has announced that it will work to have the defectors’ seats declared vacant in accordance with Nigeria’s electoral laws.

Etanabene, however, voiced skepticism that the House of Representatives’ leadership would do so, pointing out that previous decisions indicate otherwise.

In light of this, I don’t think their actions were legal. After that announcement was made yesterday, no one should still be seated in a rational society with order.

“I don’t believe that the current house leadership will announce that their seats are open. It’s a pattern that has existed, but we need to keep fighting that behavior from a legal standpoint,” he said.