The Imo State chapter of the Labour Party (LP) has issued a three-day ultimatum to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, demanding the declaration of the Imo East (Owerri) Senate seat vacant.
This comes in the wake of Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi’s defection from the Labour Party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Onyewuchi, who secured his Senate position in the 2023 election under the LP, announced his defection on the Senate floor, a move facilitated by Akpabio on Tuesday. Following his defection, Onyewuchi pledged his support for President Bola Tinubu and Governor Hope Uzodinma, citing consultations with his family, supporters, and constituents as reasons for his decision.
However, the Labour Party in Imo State has criticized Onyewuchi’s defection. In a statement released on Thursday, LP Publicity Secretary Bright Ofurum labeled the move as “shameless and dishonourable,” particularly after Onyewuchi’s period of evasion with the party.
The LP highlighted that Onyewuchi’s political career was on the verge of collapse following a significant defeat in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial primaries. The party claims to have revived his career by backing and sponsoring him.
The statement from the Labour Party reads: “We received the unfortunate news that the member representing Imo East (Owerri), Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, has defected to the APC on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday after his months of hide and seek with the APC.
“From the very day he was sworn into the 10th Senate, he has not attended any of our party’s meetings or functions and has not added any value to our party, so he will not be missed at all. We recall that his political career was drowned and dead after he was terribly defeated in the PDP senatorial primaries, even as a serving senator, before our great party took pity on him, picked him up from the depths of the ocean, gave him a life jacket (our party’s ticket), and revived him politically.
“In light of the current development and in line with the 1999 constitution as amended, we request him to do the needful and resign immediately from the Senate, following his defection to the APC. He is carrying the mandate of our party.
“We call on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to declare his seat vacant within three days in line with section 68(2) of the 1999 constitution as amended; failure to do that, we will invoke all available legal avenues to reclaim our mandate.”
The Labour Party has made it clear that they will pursue every legal option to reclaim the mandate if their demands are not met.
