Almost two years after an impressive electoral outing, Labour party appears to have relapsed into what political analysts have described as its traditional default mode ? providing platforms and sanctuary for politicians to contest elections after which such politicians ditch it for parties with more following. This could be evidenced from the waves of defections that have hit the party recently and in the past.

Aside recent defections and resignations from the party, prominent politicians who had in the past used the Labour party as a stop ? gap measure or a transit camp to contest elections before moving on to a stronger political platforms include former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko who came to office in 2007 on the party?s platform only to ditch it for the Peoples Democratic party, PDP in 2014, late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah who contested the 2014 Anambra governorship election on the party?s platform but left after he was defeated, Senator Andy Uba (not related to Ifeanyi Uba) who also contested the state?s 2010 governorship election on the LP platform and lost and then left the party, former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose who contested a Senatorial seat on the LP platform in 2011 and lost and then returned to the PDP in 2011, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps, Yusuf Lasun who contested the Osun 2022 governorship election and lost, and then defected to the PDP.

Analysts posit that as it is presently, the LP is asphyxiating and haemorrhaging and whether it will survive before the next elections is debatable. Keen watchers of the unfolding evisceration of the party have however told Daily Sun that the recent defections the party suffered are fatal enough to cripple any party, especially a party that lacks taproots as the LP. ?The wave of defections the Labour Party has suffered are enough to bring any party without a firm taproot to its knees and LP has no taproot, it has no structure.

?Its 2023 presidential candidate and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi and his Obidients Movement is what can pass as LP?s structure, its tap root and its oxygen but right now, it appears Obi is no longer enthusiastic about the party, so, LP is in a mess; it appears to be on the throes of death?, Godwin Tenebe, a lawyer and social affairs commentator told Daily Sun.

However, Iheanyi Nwachukwu, a political analyst who admitted he is a Labour party sympathiser believes the defections and the crisis buffetting opposition parties are engineered by the APC because of 2027.

?It is self- evident: The crisis and defections rocking opposition parties are engineered and masterminded by the APC.

?The APC is aware that given its dismal performance, if the 2027 election is credibly conducted and contested by a united, virile opposition, it will be voted out of power by Nigerians but the APC wants to cling on to power by all means, whether Nigerians want it or not. So, what you are seeing currently in the opposition parties are antics of the APC to weaken them, destabilise them, compromise them, pocket them and buy them over ahead 2027; the APC wants to win the 2027 elections unchallenged and to achieve this, it is engaging in state capture- APC has captured state institutions critical to free fair elections and has also captured democratic institutions; that is exactly what it has done to the PDP and LP.

?In the run up to the 2027 elections, you will likely see a factionalised opposition parties- PDP and LP- with INEC gleefully recognizing the factions sympathetic to the APC; these factions will then proceed to adopt the APC, announce a merger with it or field weak presidential candidates to challenge the ruling party?, Nwachukwu told Daily Sun.

In July, one of LP Senators, Onyebuchi Francis Ezenwa representing Imo East Senatorial District ditched the party for the APC, offering no cogent reason for doing so.

Last week, tsunami visited the party in the House of Representatives when five of its members announced their defections to the APC.

The defectors include Tochukwu Okere (Imo), Donatus Mathew (Kaduna), Bassey Akiba (Cross River), Iyawe Esosa (Edo) and Daulyop Fom (Plateau).

Two days after the defections, another LP Reps member, Ajang Iliya, representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency, Plateau State also announced he has left the party for the APC. The defections were confirmed during a plenary session when Speaker Tajudeen Abbas read their official letters of defection on the floor of the Green Chamber.

Of all the defectors, Mathew?s exit probably rankled the LP the most. Reacting to his defection, the party rued that it was betrayed by Mathew whom it described as an Okada rider.

Essentially, Mathew, a commercial motorcyclist popular as Okada, made headlines in 2023 for his remarkable journey from riding Okada and coming from lowly background to winning a parliamentary seat to represent Kaura Federal Constituency in Kaduna State.

Apparently hurt and bewildered by the depletion of its House of Reps membership, the LP has barked a threat to the defecting members but ironically, the threat, impeccable sources familiar with the alleged extinction facing the party, told Daily Sun, will not stop many more members of the party across the country, especially those holding elective positions, from leaving.

Since its National Chairman, Julius Abure regained the control of the party through the instrumentality of the court, speculations have been rife that he has turned the party over to the ruling APC as its appendage so as to spite Obi and LP?s only Governor, Alex Otti of Abia State who had a few months ago set up an interim caretaker Committee to manage affairs of the party following INEC?s initial derecognition of Abure as National Chairman.

The APC, through its lackeys in the LP are allegedly plotting to undermine Obi and put road blocks on his path should he attempt to use the party?s platform to contest the 2027 presidential election.

Its protestations notwithstanding, the Abure led LP national leadership is allegedly in bed with the APC as regards the defections. The defection of LP House members to the APC, Daily Sun gathered, are allegedly part of an orchestrated move to have the party subsumed under the APC and then get the defected members rewarded with automatic APC return tickets for the 2027 election.

Etanabene Benedict, a member of the Labour Party caucus in the House of Representatives, during a recent Channels TV appearance confirmed many more members of the party are on their way to the APC.

Benedict, who represents the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie federal constituency of Delta, also confirmed the defecting LP House members did so as a strategy ahead of the 2027 general election.

Apart from APC?s alleged pocketing of opposition parties including the LP to pave the way for easy victory in 2027, Daily Sun has been informed that some of the LP defectors and many more that will later defect are concerned that the party may have lost its charm and winning appeal following Obi and Obidients movement?s somewhat disenchantment with it. The defected LP House members, it was learnt, feared that the former Anambra Governor may seek alternative platform in 2027 thus leaving them politically stranded.

?What some of them have done by defecting is to start chasing or searching for a missing black goat before darkness descends and gets blended with the black goat thus making it difficult to find without light.

?Some of these guys are concerned that LP may have lost itself electoral appeal and may therefore not record the kind of magic it recorded in 2023. They also feel that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi is no longer enthusiastic about the party following Abure?s return and is likely to seek an alternative platform in 2027, so what I think they have done by defecting to the APC is to start in earnest to chart a political future outside the LP else they get stranded as 2027 approaches?, Dr. Alex Ujah, a university don told Daily Sun.

Hon. Benedict somewhat shares this sentiment too. According to him, the defected lawmakers were not confident of winning re-election in 2027 under the LP platform

His words: ?It is about 2027. The trend of Edo and Ondo is frightening to them, and they do not believe that they are strategically positioned to seek re-election under the umbrella of the Labour Party. That is the main reason.

?There are still many others in the Labour Party that are thinking along that line too. So, if it happens tomorrow, I won?t be surprised.?

Since its formation in 2002, the 2023 elections represented the Labour party?s best election year ever. Riding on the crest of the country-wide charm, popularity and acceptance of its presidential candidate, Obi, the party proved bookmakers who had earlier, before the election, dismissed it as a fringe party that would make no noticeable impact, wrong with its stunning performance.

Not only did Obi almost win the Presidency (in fact his supporters still insist he indeed won the 2023 election but was rigged out by the INEC and the APC), Labour party also recorded an unprecedented electoral feat, winning one Governorship seat(Abia), eight Senate seats, 35 House of Reps seats and 39 House of Assembly seats.

However, almost two years after the impressive outing, the party is now a shadow of itself, reverting to the inelegant status of a transit camp for weary politicians who have been schemed out or outsmarted by their parties. Apart from its members in the National and State Houses of Assembly who have switched parties since its 2023 landmark electoral performance, the Labour party has also been losing critical members to the ruling party. For example, Chief Edward Nkwegu, 2023 governorship candidate of the party in Ebonyi State and his deputy, Mr. Nwabueze Aja in July defected to APC. Similarly, its governorship aspirant in Edo State, Kenneth Imasuagbon has since resigned from the party. And last week, the governorship candidate of the party in the 2023 Bayelsa governorship election, Udengs Eradiri, and his running mate, Commodore Benjamin Nathus (retd.) announced their resignations from the party.

Ward chairmen of the party in the state, Daily Sun gathered, are also warming up to dump it too. In his resignation letter, Eradiri stated that he made the decision to enable him to pursue his political career on a platform better equipped to provide leadership to Bayelsa State.

Meanwhile, the party has threatened to approach the court to declare the seats of its defected members vacant. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Obinna Ifoh, the LP which had earlier denied being in a liaison with the APC said it was undaunted by the defections but vowed to recover the seats.

?The defection, to us, is quite unfortunate and we condemn the action which is irrational, untenable, inconsistent and alien to all known norms for which democracy stands for.

Section 68(g) of the 1999 constitution is emphatic on when to defect and what happens when a lawmaker sponsored by a political party decides to jump ship. The Constitution states (g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected;

Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored;

?Though, the Labour Party leadership is undaunted by the defection, it has however, elected not to allow it slide and has therefore instructed its legal team to commence the legal actions against the defectors and to also commence the process of regaining our mandates in line with the 1999 constitution and 2022 Electoral Act as amended.

?The party has also decided to open a ?Hall of Shame? register for these lawmakers or any lawmaker or elected officer of the party who engages in fraudulent act of defection without first dropping the mandate gotten under the ticket of the party?, Ifoh said. (Daily Sun)

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