The lawmaker representing Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency of Delta State in the House of Representatives, Benedict Etanabene, has submitted that the recent defection of some Labour Party legislators is not about any crisis in the party.
According to him, the rep members who recently dumped the Labour Party for the All Progressives Congress (APC) are only preparing themselves for the 2027 elections.
In his view, the recent victories of the APC in the Ondo and Edo State governorship elections have left some opposition members unsettled and thinking about their political future.
He argued further that there is no crisis in the Labour Party, as claimed by the four lawmakers who recently dumped the party for the APC.
Speaking on Friday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Etanabene said the four lawmakers who defected are loyal to the Julius Abure faction of the Labour Party and have no basis for defecting.
“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,” he said.
Henzodaily recalls 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) defected on Thursday from the Labour Party to the APC.
Asked during the interview if he also plans to dump the Labour Party in the future, Etanabene ruled out such a possibility.
He also lamented that votes do not count in Nigeria, but appealed for a change in the system.
He also urged politicians to embrace morality in politics and avoid dumping a party that gave them the opportunity to get elected into a political office.