From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
All eyes are on the caucus of the Labour Party (LP) in the House of Representatives. The 35-member caucus drawn from across the country is the second largest opposition party in the Green Chamber, after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Many of the LP House members rode on the popularity of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi to secure victory in the last national assembly elections. During the campaign, Obi, former governor of Anambra State, had promised to give the country a new lease of life, if voted as president.
As a result, many Nigerians, who bought into his message, cast their lot with the party’s national assembly candidates, so that Obi could have his party men in the parliament should he win the presidential poll. Obi is currently challenging the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the last presidential poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Supreme Court.
After the election, many people believed that the LP lawmakers would inject fresh air in the parliament. The expectations were that they would embody the aspirations of Nigerians in the Green Chambers. But, the question is: Will the lawmakers stick with the opposition party and give the country a virile opposition in the parliament?
Leader of the LP caucus, Afam Ogene, told Daily Sun that the caucus was not oblivious of the expectations of members of the public from the lawmakers. Ogene, who represents Ogbaru Federal Constituency of Anambra State, said the LP members were prepared to do things differently.
According to him, “Even before the inauguration of the 10th House of Representatives, a whole lot of expectations have been placed on the lean shoulders of the representatives of the LP, which by the Grace of God, I am chairing its caucus. As you also know, we have eight members in the Senate. Taken as a whole, we came here on the wings of the people’s mandate.
“I dare say that more than half of the 35-member strong LP representatives may not have come to the House if not for the desire to have a change, as exemplified by the love of the people for Obi’s message. So, we are quite conscious of these expectations, and we are poised to live up to them.”
The LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh, is optimistic that the party’s members in the House will keep faith with the opposition party. He told Daily Sun that the lawmakers were on the same page with the party, as they have internalized the ideals and principles and workings of the party accordingly.
He explained that the LP as a party has a relationship with its members in the National Assembly and they are working together. “Right from when they were elected, we had a symposium with them, where we told them the ideals and principles of the LP and what it stands for. They are carrying it like a Bible, and they have internalized them. For now, they are working exactly according to the dictates and ideals of the LP,” he stated.
However, while stressing that the opposition does not presuppose disagreement on every issue, Ogene noted that the desire of the party members to offer a credible opposition would not necessarily translate to the fact “that we will wear boxing gloves to plenary.”
He explained that the lawmakers intended to leverage on their common ideology to offer alternative viewpoints to the government’s policies that they are opposed to. Consequently, the caucus leader noted that the LP members have agreed to set up a political/ economic think tank in the House.
“This think tank will review policies that the executive sends to the legislature and we will come out with our position paper on how it should go. Also, keep in mind that the legislature is run on lobbying, and voting and each individual has a vote.
“So, for us, we may not immediately swing issues to our side. But, when you present a credible alternative viewpoint, I know that everybody who has found him or herself in the House of Representatives is reasonable enough, and at such times, they will stand with the truth and jettison party loyalty; to say that, I think the Labour Party is offering a more credible way out of this issue. And in some instances, we will win. In some others, we may not. But, be rest assured that our voices will not be muted,” he stated.
However, there are concerns in the polity that some of the LP members may eventually dump the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). In the history of the House, it is common for lawmakers elected on the platform of the opposition party to defect to the ruling party, once they consolidate.
For instance, in the Ninth Assembly, no fewer than 20 members of the House elected on the platform of various opposition parties defected to the APC between 2019 and 2022. As in the Ninth House, there were also many cases of opposition lawmakers defecting to the ruling party.
Section 68(1) (g) of the Constitution makes it illegal for lawmakers to defect from the party on which platform they were elected into the House, and still keep their seats, except the defection is as a result of a division in their former party. Despite this provision in the constitution, it is becoming normal for lawmakers to defect without any sanction.
The member representing Enugu North and South Federal Constituency, Chimaobi Atu, said it would be difficult for him and his colleagues to dump the LP for another party. Atu told Daily Sun in a recent interview that the lawmakers would stay in the party and build it into a more formidable force.
According to him, “The Labour Party has come to stay. We will grow stronger and stronger. There is no way we will leave our party for another party because the ideology of the Labour Party is quite different from that of other political parties.
“I don’t intend to leave the Labour Party for any other party. How can you build a mansion and leave it for a thatched house? I don’t think it is possible. In the Labour Party, there is peace of mind and good ideology. The Labour Party is the party that Nigerians believe in. It is a party that has much respect and regard; a party that has goodwill from the people. How can you leave a party that enjoys the goodwill of Nigerians and go to a party that people don’t have confidence in.
“So, I don’t think my colleagues and I will leave the Labour Party. Rather, what we are going to do is to build the party to be stronger. And we know that we are not going to disappoint Nigerians, who voted for us because much is expected from us, and we are going to do what they voted us to do.”
He told the Daily Sun that there was nothing in the APC that would lure him and his colleagues to the ruling party. The lawmaker equally said there could be one or two members, who came from the APC, and whose heart might still be there.
However, he warned that any LP member that is contemplating defection should be ready to surrender the mandate given him or her on the platform of the party.
According to him, “don’t forget that when you defect, it is a decided issue from the Supreme Court of Nigeria that you will lose your seat. And some people in this republic have lost their seats before now. So, anybody, who is contemplating that should be put on notice that as a party, we will demand for our seat.”
The LP spokesman agreed with Ogene’s position, saying, “Even the recent electoral law has taken care of that. If you want to defect, you drop the mandate. It is the party’s mandate, not the candidate’s mandate. The moment you leave your party, then you drop the mandate for the party. So, the electoral law has taken care of that and we don’t expect anything different.”
