The senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the National Assembly, Ireti Kingibe has announced her official resignation from the Labour Party and defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, Kingibe said her move is calculated and a deliberate political decision.
According to her, her formal induction into the ADC would be marked with “fanfare.”
She further declared full commitment to the ADC. While she acknowledged that the coalition party is still in its formative stage, the senator expressed optimism that it is going to bring about change in Nigeria and noted that her decision comes from a place of interest in the welfare of Nigerians and the restoration of her glory.
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 collect a card. I want to do so with noise and fanfare.”
“It’s something that is evolving,” she said. “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.”
Defending her stance and decision, the senator stressed that following the internal crisis in the Labour party and the existence of two factions legally justified her defection.
Therefore, she clarified that her defection would not be enough grounds to cost her Senate seat based on constitutional provisions.
“I ask you to please read the constitution. There are two factions — clear factions — of Labour Party. The perfect definition that the constitution gives for somebody to decamp without penalty applies in this case.
“Even INEC got two sets of results and candidates, though they didn’t accept any. So if you ask me to stay in Labour Party, which faction do you want me to stay in?.
“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 the constitution gave why it would be okay to decamp to anywhere I wanted to go. I just chose ADC,” she argued.
