‘I Am Sure Their Seats Will Be Declared Vacant’

The Labour Party (LP) has described its defected lawmakers in the House of Representatives as liabilities, asserting that their departure will not impact the party’s strength.

The party’s leadership described the defectors as “paper-weight politicians” who only rode to power on the LP’s platform and promise of quality leadership.

Speaking to Punch on Friday, the National Secretary of the Labour Party, Umar Farouk, and National Legal Adviser, Kehinde Edun, both maintained that the defectors would not be missed.

Farouk claimed that the lawmakers contributed nothing to the party, adding that their departure is a relief, not a loss.

Edun echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing that the party would ensure accountability.

The Labour Party confirmed that it had filed legal proceedings to declare the defectors’ seats vacant and compel them to refund all salaries and allowances received.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, disclosed that the decision was taken to uphold the party’s integrity and deter similar actions in the future.

The other five lawmakers are: Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau).

Reacting to the defection, Farouk said, “Left to me, I will say it is good riddance to bad rubbish. Since these people came into this party, they have never contributed one kobo to the movement or development of the party. So why should I care? In fact, they even gave the party an opportunity to drag them to court.

“So, we will take them to court and I am sure their seats will be declared vacant. After that, we will leave the Speaker of the House to take the honourable step. But we will certainly take them to court. For now, we are appealing to other members that they shouldn’t be seen exposing the party that gave them a voice and platform to ridicule.

“It is obvious those defecting from the party don’t share in our ideology. That is why they could put up such a rascality. The annoying thing is that such rascality is coming up at a period the party leadership has already extended an olive branch to them, urging those who are aggrieved or planning to leave to come back.”

When asked why he felt the six lawmakers chose to go the APC and not any of the opposition parties, Farouk said he suspected it had a lot to do with personal gains.

“Of course, you know them (lawmakers). They are doing that for their selfish interests. They want to get into the majority and get access to juicy committees and opportunities.

“Many of them are getting to the House of Reps for the first time and have seen what is happening in there. So, they get distracted and just keep collecting everything that comes their way,” he stated.

The national secretary decried the leniency approach the party took by not dishing out sanctions to erring LP chieftains from the outset.

“When they were doing all these things, we didn’t take any action against them. They even had the temerity of opposing and challenging the constitutionality of the leadership. Consequently, they came up with all sorts of factions.

“Imagine them blaming their defection on the crisis in the party. If there is any crisis within the party, they should accept that they are the architects. The defection is just for their personal gain,” Farouk reiterated.

The LP legal adviser, Edun described the rebellious lawmakers as traitors.

Edun expressed his conviction that APC would not give the lawmakers the party’s tickets to contest the next election.

He said, “These people are paper-weight politicians. The party only helped them to get to where they are because of the movement we were able to create towards the elections. Many of them could not have won even a councillor seat. But their victory became possible because of the movement created by the part.

“Now, many of them have been irresponsible. They have not done well, and they know it may be difficult to convince their constituents because of their poor performance. Their reasoning now is that perhaps if they move to the ruling party, it will save them from facing the people who voted for them.

“But it will not, because many of them won’t even scale through the APC primaries. Stronger aspirants are waiting for them there. Many of those they defeated at the general elections were because Nigerians wanted the Labour Party and were thumbprinting every category that had the logo.”