The leadership of the Labour Party on Thursday confirmed that it had filed legal proceedings against the defected lawmakers to declare their seats vacant and ensure they refund all the salaries and allowances they have received to date.
The National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, revealed this in a statement issued in Abuja.
His outrage came a few hours after the member representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, Plateau State, Ajang Iliya, announced his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Iliya’s defection to the ruling party brings to six the number of lawmakers lost by the LP to the APC.
The other five Reps members are Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau).
In his letter of defection read on the floor by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, Iliya said he was defecting given the crisis in the Labour Party and the need to align with the policies and developmental initiative of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
He added that his defection would allow him to represent his constituency better, in the area of good governance and service delivery.
But Ifoh insisted that the defecting lawmakers were birds of a feather who had long perfected their plan to run away with the people’s mandates.
He said, “The law does not protect an individual who steals the mandate of a people and a political party to run into another without first surrendering the mandate he deceitfully acquired. This defection, like similar ones before it, is quite unfortunate and condemnable.
“It is unnecessary to probe why most of the defectors chose the All Progressives Congress as their destination point and why the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abass, has refused to respect the provisions of the constitution by declaring their seats vacant.
“Meanwhile, the party has since filled actions in the court to compel the National Assembly leadership to declare the seats of the defected Labour Party lawmakers vacant. The suit also seeks that every salary, emolument or privileges received, from the date of defection, be returned.”
Rowdy plenary
The House of Representatives had witnessed a rowdy plenary earlier on Thursday following the announcement of the defection of Iliya from the LP to the APC.
Lawmakers went into a heated debated after the Speaker read Iliya’s letter, defecting from the LP tp the APC.
The Minority Leader, Kingsley China, called on the Speaker to reject Iliya’s defection letter, contending that the lawmaker had not fulfilled the required constitutional provision.
China said the Plateau lawmaker should first go back to his ward and join the APC before returning to the Green Chamber with a letter of notification of his defection.
On his part, the Deputy Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi, maintained that there was no crisis in the LP to warrant Iliya’s defection
He said, “I want to wish all those defecting and those who may wish to do so and believe that the APC is their best destination, good luck. We will be waiting to meet them again in 2027 if they will be here. The end will justify the means.”
However, Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau) insisted that Iliya’s defection was in order, as, according to him, the constitutional provision cited by the Minority Leader did not apply.
Gagdi added that Section 40 of the Constitution grants permission to anybody to form or join a political party.
Mark Esset (PDP, Akwa Ibom) said as lawmakers, members of the parliament must show the Nigerian people that they are not lawbreakers by correctly applying the provisions of the Constitution.
LP loses gov candidate
Meanwhile, in a related development, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the just-concluded election in Bayelsa State, Udengs Eradiri, and his running mate, Commodore Benjamin Nathus (retd.), also announced their resignations from the party on Thursday.
It was gathered that most of the local government chairmen of the party in Bayelsa State also joined Eradiri and Nathus to dump the party.
Eradiri sent his resignation letter to the state chairman of the party in Yenagoa.
In the letter dated December 8 and titled, “Letter of Withdrawal as Labour Party Member”, Eradiri said he took the decision to enable him pursue his political career on a platform ready and prepared to provide the kind of leadership that Bayelsa State deserved.
Eradiri expressed appreciation to members of the party, who believed in his vision for a better Bayelsa State and gave him the opportunity to be the governorship candidate.
“But unfortunately, we couldn’t scale through the intrigues and challenges implanted in the party leadership,” he said.