APC loses Reps member as Agbese joins LP

From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) recorded its first defection in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, as the Deputy House Spokesman, Philip Agbese, dumped the ruling party for the Labour Party (LP).

Agbese, who represents Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadibo Federal Constituency of Benue State, announced his defection in a letter to the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, which was read at plenary.

The lawmaker noted that although he is leaving the APC because of the internal crisis in the Benue State chapter of the party, his support for President Bola Tinubu remains unwavering.

Abbas, while reading the letter, said no member of the APC in the Green Chamber had left for the opposition since the inception of the 10th Assembly.

The Speaker said, “Honourable colleagues, we have the first member of the 10th House of Representatives leaving the majority party to join the LP. So, members of the Labour Party should please appreciate him.”

Agbese later told journalists that his exit from the APC was in the best interest of his constituency and dispelled speculation that he was going to be the gubernatorial candidate of the LP in Benue State.

According to him, “I want to categorically put it on record that our defection is about service to our people. It is about making ourselves available again for service come 2027 and our people, the largest population of our people, have taken a very firm position, to say that the Labour Party is the only available vehicle that will take us to the expected destination, come 2027, and as a servant of the people, we have no choice than to be part of the Labour family. That is why we’re here today.”

The Benue lawmaker also pledged his continued loyalty to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.

He noted that “to the end of time, the SGF remains my father, my greatest benefactor. He made it possible for me to be here. I remain grateful to him, and I’ll be grateful to him to the end of the world. At the moment, it is not about my former party.

“It is not about individuals, highly placed individuals, sending emissaries to us. The decision wasn’t about me; it was about my people and where my people go. That is where I will be. No man rules in isolation. You can’t lead without the people following you. So if the people who have been with me all these years have decided to move to the Labour Party, who am I?”