By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
Five members of the House of Representatives have dumped the Labour Party and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Four of the defectors are members of the Labour Party.
Their letter of defection to the APC was read on the floor of the Green Chamber by Speaker Tajudeen Abbas on Thursday.
The lawmakers blamed intra-party crisis for their defection to the ruling party.
1. Chinedu Okere (Owerri municipal/Owerri north/Owerri west federal constituency)
2. Mathew Donatus (Kaura federal constituency of Kaduna), the motorcyclist (Okada rider) who miraculously won the rep seat in 2023.
3. Akiba Bassey (Calabar municipal/Odukpani federal constituency of Cross River)
4. Esosa lyawe (Oredo federal constituency of Edo).
5. Erthiatake Ibori-Suenu (PDP Delta), the daughter of James Ibori, the former governor of Delta State.
The Labour Party became the third largest party in the country after winning six Senate and over 34 House of Representatives seats in the 2023 general elections.
The party also won a governorship seat (Abia) and several state legislative seats. Its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, was the second runner-up in the poll. However, the opposition party has been engulfed in internal crisis immediately after the 2023 election.