LABOUR PARTY NO LONGER HAS ANY SENATOR IN NIGERIAN SENATE

The Labour Party (LP) has lost all its seats in the Senate less than SENSTE years after the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly.

At the inauguration of the Senate in June 2023, the LP paraded eight senators. However, a combination of defections, court judgments and death has reduced the party’s representation in the Red Chamber to zero.

InvestigationsO revealed that the primary factor behind the development is a wave of defections that has swept through opposition parties, including the LP and the Peoples Democratic Party, largely due to internal leadership crises and declining political fortunes.

Three of the eight LP senators defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress.

The first was Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi (Imo East), who joined the APC in July 2024.

He was followed by Neda Imasuen (Edo South), who defected in June 2025.

In October 2025, Kelvin Chukwu (Enugu East) also defected from the LP to the APC, citing unresolved crises within the party at both the state and national levels.

Another bloc of three LP senators left the party to join the African Democratic Congress.

They were led by Ireti Kingibe (Federal Capital Territory), alongside Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) and Tony Nwoye (Anambra North).

Although Kingibe’s defection has been formalised, the defection letters of Umeh and Nwoye are yet to be read on the floor of the Senate.

The LP’s woes were further compounded by judicial intervention.

In November 2023, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos sacked Darlington Nwokeocha from the Abia Central Senatorial seat, which he won on the LP platform.

The appellate court declared Augustine Akobundu of the Peoples Democratic Party as the rightful winner of the February 2023 election.

In addition, the death of Okey Ezea, who represented Enugu North on the platform of the LP until November 2025, created another vacancy.

The seat is expected to be filled through a by-election to be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission within 90 days. However, it remains uncertain whether the LP will be able to reclaim the seat.

With these developments, the Labour Party currently has no sitting senator.

The current composition of the 109-member Senate indicates that the APC holds a comfortable majority of 77 senators, followed by the PDP with 25 members.

Other parties include the ADC with four senators, the All Progressives Grand Alliance with one, the New Nigeria Peoples Party with one, and the Social Democratic Party with one.