Hon Obi Aguocha is the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia North/ Umuahia South Federal Constituency of Abia State in the House of Representatives. In this interview, he speaks on the leadership crisis rocking Labour Party and the defection of the party’s lawmakers. ANAYO EZUGWU writes
Was the Labour Party aware that the defection of lawmakers elected on its platform was imminent?
Unfortunately, some of my colleagues decided to pull away from the Labour Party to join the ruling party but that is very unfortunate.
There are 35 members of Labour Party in the House of Representatives, five pulled out, we still have 30 strong members who believe in the ideology of the party.
In the Senate, we’re eight senators, one pulled out, so we still have seven strong senators, who believe in the ideology of the party.
So, whether they pulled out for their interest is for their constituents and for the people to determine.
Labour Party has remained and will remain a formidable platform to wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The party demonstrated that in the last general election by actually winning the election but the dynamics in Nigeria and the establishment thought it otherwise to ensure that Peter Obi never became president.
But I can assure you that going forward, Labour Party is strong on its own to move on a path that will show that the party is still a formidable platform. It’s still a formidable party.
It’s still a party that cares for the generality of the people, a party that will bring different dynamics to the governance structure of Nigeria.
That sounds very theoretical because in practice that’s not what’s happening in the Labour Party and why do you think those five defected?
It’s not theoretical. We have a governor but some people are only fixated on the five decampees.
They’re my colleagues, and I would not say ill of my colleagues because it was a personal decision they took.
Some of them have explained their actions in the public domain, and part of what they said was that there is a perceived division in the Labour Party.
There’s no political party, especially the top three in Nigeria, that doesn’t have any issues. APC has their problems. PDP has their problems. The Labour Party, of course, has its problems.
But the most important thing is that the leadership of Labour Party has remained steadfast in finding solutions to the problems that we have in the Labour Party.
Yes, our matter has gone through the High Court and is on appeal. I would believe that by the time the court decides as to the direction of the party, then all of us will now know the direction to move.
But by way of the determination of the court, Julius Abure by determination of the court, whether right or wrong, is the chairman of the party. So, there’s no division in the Labour Party.
How much is this defection about 2027 and the feeling that these House members aren’t sure where the Labour Party will be by then?
From my assessment and discussions with them, politics is dynamics.
Unfortunately, most of these Labour colleagues of mine also come from states that do not have a Labour Party government. So, it’s also an issue of their self-survival.
They probably maybe under pressure that the election for 2027 is going to be very difficult for them without a helping hand from the state government.
Do you expect more Labour defections in the House?
No, I’m a Labour man for life. I believe in the ideology of Peter Obi and the ideology of Governor Alex Otti and the platform that we’re in.
What if Peter Obi leaves Labour Party because he is talking to other people?
Well, he’s entitled to talk to as many people as he wants to be able to entice them to come to the Labour Party, to wrest power from the government of the day, to reset Nigeria.
So, you look at the situation in Nigeria, hopelessness and not enough opportunity.
I’m ideologically aligned and connected to Peter Obi and Alex Otti and the platform of the Labour Party. Now, we are a political platform.
We are interested in wresting power from the APC, so that we can restore hope for the Nigerian people, to be able to ensure that there is adequate security, to be able to ensure that people can wake up in
The defection of five members… does not diminish nor does it rise to the level where it would suffice that the Labour Party is no longer going to be the beacon of hope for Nigerians
the morning, rather than go through hunger, high inflation, children go to school and don’t have an opportunity to be gainfully employed.
Nobody is happy. Even the APC people are not happy with the current situation in Nigeria.
So, if we have to form a coalition to ensure that we have adequate provisions in place, why not, after all, APC was a coalition that subscribed to an ideology that wrested power from PDP.
So, I do not see it extraordinary if Labour Party comes together with some other like-minded Nigerians, who are committed and determined to do the right thing for once in Nigeria.
Labour Party has picked upon what they say is the clarity of the Nigerian constitution over defections that when you are elected on the platform of one party and you defect to another party, there must be division in that party at the national level, is that the case in this situation?
There is no division in Labour Party and the ambiguity of sections 68 and 109 is subject to various interpretations by various people.
Labour Party has said equivocally that it will explore every opportunity to look at sections 68 and 109 again. Like I said, section 68 is quite specific.
Some thresholds have to be met for division to be applicable to be justifiable for Labour Party colleagues of mine to have left.
I just said to you that by the determination of the court, Julius Abure is the chairman. That’s what the court says until the higher court says otherwise.
And it doesn’t mean also that those who are challenging Abure don’t have any constitutional right to do that. Labour Party is one. Peter Obi is still the leader of the Labour Party. Alex Otti is still a leader in the Labour Party.
They have not deviated from the Labour Party. These are things that happen that show the dynamism of political parties. Look at sections 68 and 109. I do not believe that division does exist.
But it’s not for me to determine. Labour Party has also said that it is exploring the opportunities or the possibilities of challenging their defection in court. That is one aspect of it. Labour Party is a critical stakeholder in this regard.
Now, the other critical stakeholders that apply are the constituents of these various people.
As I said, there were five or six people who defected on the day my colleagues defected from the Labour Party.
Nobody is talking about the PDP defector. It’s all about the Labour Party because of the significance of the Labour Party.
Do you know how many people, who defected from opposition parties to PDP when PDP held sway?
So, five people defecting from Labour Party to APC, without diminishing the standing of my colleagues is quite insignificant.
Do you expect that the APC-led leadership of the House will declare those seats vacant?
If the APC-led leadership of the House of Representatives goes by the strictest interpretation of section 68, the seats will be declared vacant but I know that what they are doing is accepting as many people into their fold, which diminishes the import of an organised opposition.
Attention is being given to five Labour Party defectors, when we still have 30 members in the House and seven senators out of eight.
How has that made us ineffectual? I will panic when it is said the Labour Party that came into the 10th National Assembly with 35 House of Representatives members and eight senators is now down to one senator, or that we are down to five members of the House. Then I’ll say there’s a crisis.
But if we are still maintaining above 90 per cent of our strength, then we are still going to be engaged, rightfully so, in helping to shore up and build up our democracy.
Would you concede that we are witnessing a time of greater uncertainty in the Labour Party as a result of these defections?
I think we are witnessing a greater time of uncertainty in the body of Nigeria.
As I said hopelessness and not enough opportunity, hunger, insecurity and the destabilization of the Naira, we are not moving forward as a country. So that should give concern to many Nigerians than what is happening with the Labour Party. What is happening now with the Labour Party is just five defections and those defections, while it is unfortunate, as I said by my colleagues that we were hoping to build a stronger opposition now decided to leave. Well, I wish them well. But beyond that Labour Party is still the platform that will bring about the freshness that we hope will begin to make Nigeria greater again. Not this renewed hopelessness that we are having. So, Labour Party continues to be a strong political party. Why is APC afraid of the Labour Party? They are afraid of Labour Party because it is the party of the common person in Nigeria. And those people are looking desperately for somebody, a beacon of light that will change our narrative from hopelessness and not enough opportunity to where all Nigerians can have something meaningful to be able to help their families, to be able to be productively engaged in the country, in our economy and otherwise minded. So, the defection of five members, while it is unfortunate for me as a member of the Labour Party, it does not diminish nor does it rise to the level where it would suffice that the Labour Party is no longer going to be the beacon of hope for Nigerians.
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