According to reports from Vanguard, the Labour Party (LP) has vowed to use legal means to reclaim the seats recently vacated by six of its lawmakers in the Enugu State House of Assembly.
These lawmakers had defected from the LP to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to the party's Deputy National Chairman, Dr. Ayo Olorunfemi, the LP is displeased with a court decision in Enugu that allegedly sentenced the party's candidate for the Enugu South Urban State constituency seat, Bright Ngene, to 7 years in prison.
Olorunfemi claims this was an attempt to deny Ngene his right to political participation.
Olorunfemi stated that the LP had overwhelmingly won the 2023 governorship election in Enugu, but the mandate was "snatched by desperate persons in connivance with a hugely compromised system."
The party also lost a federal legislative seat in Enugu North through similar tactics.
The LP Vice Chairman further alleged that the Enugu state government pressured 6 of the party's state assembly members to defect to the PDP, which was rejected by the people of Enugu in the last election.
Regarding the Enugu South Urban constituency, Olorunfemi said that after Ngene won the election, the PDP candidate challenged the victory and the Election Petition Tribunal ordered a rerun in 8 polling units.