Citing division within the party and the need to serve the people of his constituency better, a member of the House of Representatives Fom Dalyop Chollom on Tuesday defected from Labour Party, to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Chollom’s resignation letter from the LP was read by the Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas during plenary on Tuesday.
In the letter, Chollom who represents the Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency cited the political crisis in Labour Party as one of the reasons for his defection.
He also said he joined the APC to be able to represent his people better.
Efforts by the Minority Leader of the House Kingsley Chinda and the leader of the LP caucus Ozodinobi to stop the defection failed.
The Speaker also rejected suggestion by the two men that the seat of Chollom should be declared vacant for contravening provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.
Abbas insisted that Cholom’s defection to the APC was done in line with the rules.
The defection of the lawmaker was witnessed by former governor of Plateau State Simon Lalong and other members of the party who stormed the House of Representatives to witness the event.
Chollom is the fifth House of Representatives member elected on the platform of Labour Party to jump ship to the ruling party in just one week.
Four Labour Party lawmakers – Chinedu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West constituency), Mathew Donatus (Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna), Akiba Bassey (Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Constituency), and Esosa Iyawe (Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo) had also dumped the party for APC on the floor of the chamber last week.
They also blamed internal crisis within the party and the need to provide better representation for their people for the decision to dump Labour Party.
Chollom followed their footsteps on Tuesday despite threats by the Labour Party to declare the seats of the lawmakers vacant.
