Reps member blames defection of LP lawmakers on 2027 general elections

A member of the House of Representatives, Benedict Etanabene, has faulted some members of the Labour Party for dumping the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But Etanabene, who represents Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency in Delta State, blamed the defection of the members on the 2027 general election.

He particularly said the lawmakers were concerned about the turnout of the recently held governorship elections in Edo and Ondo State that produced APC candidates as the respective winners.

According to the lawmaker, there is no crisis in the LP that would warrant the defection of the lawmakers to the ruling side.

“There is no leadership crisis in the Labour Party,” he said on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “If it is about those issues, I can tell you that the larger number of those who just left are people that believe in the leadership of Julius Abure.

“It is not only Labour Party. I am expecting the trend from other opposition parties. What happened in Edo and Ondo is frightening to the extent that in 2027, it is going to be business as usual for APC. They have started thinking of positioning themselves.”

When asked if it is a threat for him in 2027, the lawmaker said that nothing would make him dump the LP for another party.

The lawmaker lamented that votes do not count in Nigeria, calling for a change in the system.

He also urged politicians to embrace morality in politics and avoid dumping from a party that elected them into a political office.

Four members of the Labour Party Caucus in the lower chamber defected to APC on Thursday. The lawmakers are Chinedu Okere (Owerri municipal/owerri north/Owerri west constituency), Mathew Donatus (Kaura federal constituency of Kaduna), Akiba Bassey (Calabar municipal/Odukpani constituency), and Esosa Iyawe (Oredo federal constituency of Edo).