Labour Party Senators drop to six

Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi, previously of the Labour Party (LP), defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) on Tuesday, dropping the number of Senators elected on the platform of the LP to six on the floor of the Red Chamber.

Onyewuchi represents the Imo East Senatorial District.

The defection was formally announced on the floor of the Senate by the President of the Senate, Sen. Godswill Akpabio.

In his letter to the Senate, Onyewuchi alluded to a ‘crisis’ in his former party as the key reason for his action.

With this development, the number of LP senators has dropped to six.

At the inception of the 10th Senate, the part had eight senators.

In November 2023, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos had sacked Sen. Darlington Nwokocha of the LP, the then-Senate Minority Whip, who represented Abia-Central.

The court had decided that the seat he occupied was actually won by Augustine Akobundu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the February 25 National Assembly polls.

The exit of Nwokocha reduced the number of LP senators to seven.

The defection of Onyewuchi on Tuesday further reduced the number to six.

The remaining six are Sen. Tony Nwoye (Anambra-North); Sen. Victor Umeh (Anambra-Central); Sen. Kelvin Chizoba (Enugu-East); Sen. Ezea Okechukwu (Enugu-North); Sen. Ireti Heebah Kingibe (FCT); and Sen. Imasuen Bernards (Edo-South).

Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, led a delegation of politicians to the Senate to witness the defection of Onyewuchi to his party, the APC, as Akpabio and other APC lawmakers warmly embraced him (Onyewuchi).

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