Senator Ireti Kingibe Dumps Labour Party For ADC

Senator Ireti Kingibe, who represents the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has dumped the Labour Party (LP) for the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, Ireti Kingibe said the decision was intentional and will be made with a public event.

She said, “I’m totally and completely committed to ADC. But obviously, as the senator representing the federal capital territory, don’t expect me to just take a lunch break and go and collect card. I want to do so with noise and fanfare.”

When asked about her confidence in the ADC’s leadership and its evolving coalition, the lawmaker compared the party’s development to raising a child.

“It’s something that is evolving. So you cannot say while your child is still crawling that you are not happy with how he’s going to run. You wait. We are growing,” she said.

When asked if her defection could cost her Senate seat under constitutional rules, but Kingibe argued that her move is legal because the Labour Party is currently divided into two factions.

The lawmaker added that in the past, even without clear divisions in a party, no serious enforcement followed.

“I ask you to please read the constitution. There are two factions clear of Labour Party. The perfect definition that the constitution gives for somebody to decamp without penalty,” she said.

“So you say I should stay in Labour Party. Which faction of Labour Party do you want me to stay in?

“There are two clear distinct ones. Even INEC got two sets of results and candidates, though they didn’t accept any. There’s no question of that.

“Even the time when we didn’t have two clear factions, did you see anybody implementing it?

“But I do follow the law. And if there were not two distinct factions of Labour Party, I would not presume to decamp, because that is unconstitutional. But they are.

“And this is the definition that the constitution gave why it would be okay to decamp to anywhere I wanted to go to. I just chose ADC.”

Ireti Kingibe was among several high-profile politicians who attended the July 2 unveiling of the ADC as the new platform for an opposition coalition in Abuja.

KanyiDaily reported that Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party had given Peter Obi a 48-hour deadline to leave the party, following his recent involvement in the ADC coalition.