Another member of the Labour Party (LP), Senator Kelvin Chukwu, from Enugu East, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday.
Chukwu blamed his decision on ‘internal wranglings’ within the LP, a move that reduced the number of LP senators to just four (4), while the APC climbed further up in its majority dominance to 69.
The defection came as the Senate received two new members.
Senator Nwachukwu Emmanuel Chibuzor of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) replaced the late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra South), while Senator Ikpea Joseph Igiagbe was inaugurated to replace the Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo (Edo Central).
In his defection letter, Chukwu wrote, ‘I write to formally notify you and my distinguished colleagues in the Nigerian Senate of my decision to resign my membership of the Labour Party and to join the All Progressives Congress effective immediately.
‘This decision was reached after extensive consultations with my constituents in my senatorial district, my political associates and stakeholders across various levels in Enugu State.
‘It is a reflection of my commitment to aligning with a platform that works, and I believe I’ll do better and represent the collective interest of my people better.
‘I’ll bring more dividends of democracy; I’ll meet the aspirations of the good people of Enugu East Senatorial District and Nigerians at large.
‘Recent developments, including internal wranglings, leadership crises, policy disagreements, lack of cohesion, lack of direction.
‘Lack of focus at both the state and national levels have made it increasingly difficult for me to effectively discharge my duties to represent my constituents under its banner.
‘These challenges have undermined the core values and principles upon which the Labour Party was initially founded.
‘After careful reflection, I am convinced that the All Progressives Congress, under the leadership of the performing President, President Bola Tinubu, provides a more stable, more progressive, more inclusive platform.
‘For achieving our shared goals of economic growth, good governance, national unity, national cohesion, social development and progress for the nation called Nigeria.
‘I remain committed to serving the great people of Enugu East Senatorial Zone and the Nigerian people with integrity, with diligence and patriotism.
‘And I assure you of my continued contributions to the work of the 10th Senate in the service of our fatherland.’
Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, congratulated Akpabio as the Chairman of the National Assembly, President Tinubu and all APC lawmakers in the National Assembly on the gale of defections in the country.
‘I am congratulating all of us because what is happening is not just by an accident of history. What is happening is in direct response to the new thing happening to Nigeria.
‘The APC-led government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is working, and regardless of what anyone would have thought a year ago or two years ago, it is becoming obvious to Nigerians that we are making a difference,’ he said.
Speaking, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said, ‘I have always worried about the left side of the aisle but I’m no longer worried. If they like, let them all move here.
‘Your discretion living in a tattered house is hereby accepted.’
He added, ‘I want a strong and vibrant opposition in Nigeria, but where they are not able to organise themselves, and all the political parties are in tatters, then the right thing for them to do is to join me and join Mr President.
‘So that we can move this country forward. We are not going to have one-party system; that is why INEC is registering more parties.
‘Please put your house in order. I have been looking at the way you are getting depleted on a daily basis, and I am in total sympathy with what is going on.
‘The PDP is on the ground, the Umbrella is torn, the Labour Party is scattered.’
But the mention of PDP drew the displeasure of the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Abba Moro, who interjected, ‘With due respect and without prejudice to some achievements that Mr President has made, I want to say that no matter the number that are here (the opposition), we are capable of holding our own.
‘You said all politics are local. Those who are gravitating towards the majority side are exercising their rights.
‘But my brother and friend, Kelvin, who has just left the third row here, to go to the last row there, I wish him good luck.
‘Mr President, when it was announced that he was going, and he said he had made adequate consultations, I asked the question, Who have you consulted because he didn’t talk to me.
‘And I do know that because our politics are local, my brother came here on the Obedient Movement; he came here on the Sympathy Vote because an accident happened.
‘That is a story for another day,’ Moro said.