The Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hajia Ireti Kingibe has said that she has dumped the Labour Party for the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 general election.
Kingibe told the media in Abuja on Saturday that her defection was a deliberate move and would be formalised with ‘fanfare’.
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 if she was satisfied with the leadership of ADC and the coalition she is joining, the lawmaker said that the party is still evolving
‘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.
Responding to concerns that her defection might cost her the Senate seat based on constitutional provisions, Kingibe said that the Labour Party is currently split into two factions — a situation which, she argued, legally allows her to move.
She further said: ‘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.
‘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 (Independent National Electoral Commission) 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’.
Kingibe was one of the several prominent Nigerian political figures spotted at the unveiling of ADC as the platform of the opposition coalition in Abuja on 2 July.
