LEGAL IMPLICATION OF DEFECTION BY POLITICAL OFFICE HOLDER BY Lurogho Olukayode, Omotosho Oluwadamilola Marvellous & Osadugba Marvellous

ABSTRACT

   It has so much  become prevalent since time in memorial for Politician to defect from one party to another and then goes like that in a circle without no bearing.Politicians in Nigeria have continued to lay claims to their fundamental rights to freedom of association as a means of moving in and out of political groups at will, a development, though not alien to the nation’s political system, which is however gradually assuming a frivolous status, thus raising concerns in the build-up to the 2015 general elections. Provisions were made in the 2010 Electoral Act as safeguard against indiscriminate cross carpeting from one political party to another, which spelt out conditions under which an elected officer can defect, but the inherent loopholes in the safeguards were today still being exploited by politicians. The sixth National Assembly also made attempts at stopping the distasteful practice through Constitution amendment, but the particular clause which sought to strip members of the National Assembly and House of Assembly of their seats on defection could not get the required two-third backing from the states. A similar move was made in 2012 when two members of the House of Representatives, Eddy Mbadiwe and Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Business, Albet Sam-Tsokwa, re-introduced the bill. But it did not even scale second reading on the floor. Is the trend healthy for the political development of Nigeria? Does it portend stability for a political party? Does the law regulating political parties activities allow such defection? What actually is the position of the law on the subject matter? These questions are begging for answer and this paper seeks to provide answers to them.

INTRODUCTION

In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state.This term is also applied, often pejoratively, to anyone who switches loyalty to another religion, sports team, political party, or other rival faction. In that sense, the defector is often considered a traitor by their original side.In domestic politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. The term is sometimes used as a synonym for traitor, especially if the defector brings with him secrets or confidential information. The term political party defection is also used to refer to the departure of a member from a political party to join another political party, typically because of discontent in his existing party. Depending on position of the person, it may be given a different name, such as party switching or crossing the floor. One famous political "defector" was Winston Churchill, who first entered Parliament as a Conservative in 1901, defected to the Liberals in 1904, and defected back to the Conservatives in 1925 (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2014).Political party defectors are usually regarded as political prostitutes without political principle, morality, conscience and lacking in political ideology to champion the cause of leadership for the well being of the society and political development of the country.Malthora, (2005), Aziken, (2009) Mba (2011) and Aleyomi (2013) adduce reason(s) for cross carpeting or defection of politicians, saying the trend result from personality clash, power tussles, divergent views on the operations of a political party’s philosophy, crisis or division within a given political party, disagreement on party’s position on an issue, realisation of one’s personal political ambition and party leaders reneging on agreed issues of the political party probably on power sharing formula.

    From the above thesis, politics defection refers to one’s abandonment of his/her preview position or association, offers to join an opposition or ruling group or party over the issue of political ideology, manifesto or program and party management. However, from 1999 to date many politicians at the local government, state and federal levels had consistently defected from one political party to the other. Some did so abandoning the parties on whose platform they were elected, while others after losing elections found it the best option for them to cross carpet to another political party. Meanwhile, some past and serving senators, Governors, House of Representatives members, State legislators, council chairmen and councilors have abandoned their elected political party platform for another on the excuse of factional crisis or division within their political party.Expanding this thesis, Balarabe Musa, National Chairman, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) while speaking recently to the News Agency of Nigeria said that defection of politicians from one party to another undermined the political development of Nigeria. In our view , it can be regarded as "Political prostitution".

     However the removal of Engr. Dave Umahi, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi state and his Deputy Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe by the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in a judgement delivered by Hon. Justice Inyang Ekwo caused a scene in the political arena of the country. The court held that held that the total number of 393, 042 votes governor Umahi secured during the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi state, belonged to the PDP and same could not be legally transferred to the APC. After the 2019 general elections, the Executive Governor of Ebonyi state defected from the People’s Democratic Party to the All-progressive Congress alongside his deputy. This generated a lot of issues having won the election under the People’s Democratic Party both in his First term and also his Second term.In the Nigerian Political system, Defections of state Governor from the party under which they won an Election is not new to the system. Examples of Executive Governors who have defected from the party which they won an election to a new one includes: Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (from All Progressive Congress to the People’s Democratic Party), Samuel Ortom (from All Progressive Congress to the People’s Democratic Party), Abdulfatah Ahmed (from All Progressive Congress to the People’s Democratic Party), Godwin Obaseki (from All Progressive Congress to the Peoples, Democratic Party) Olusegun Mimiko ( from Labour Party to the People’s Democratic Party) and so on such as Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Aliyu Wamakko, Murtala Nyako all defected from the People’s Democratic to the All-progressive Congress in 2012.

 IS IT UNCONSTITUTIONALLY FOR AN EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR AND HIS DEPUTY DEFECT FROM THE POLITICAL PARTY UNDER WHICH THEY WON AN ELECTION?

      In the judgement of Justice Inyang Ekwo in the case of Engr. Dave Umahi, he held that held that the total number of 393, 042 votes governor Umahi secured during the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi state, belonged to the PDP and same could not be legally  to the APC.According to the court, having defected to the APC, both Umahi and his deputy, not only jettisoned the PDP, but also the votes that belonged to it.It held that going by the outcome of the governorship election, the office of the governor and deputy governor in Ebonyi state, “belong to the Plaintiff and no other political party”. “There is no constitutional provision that made the ballot transferrable from one party to the other”.It held that the PDP is bound to retain the votes and mandate that was given to it by electorates in Ebonyi state, as both governor Umahi and his Deputy could not validly transfer same to APC.The court, therefore, ordered both Umahi and Igwe to immediately vacate their positions.It ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately receive from the PDP, names of persons to replace Umahi and his Deputy, or in the alternative, conduct a fresh gubernatorial election in Ebonyi state in line with section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.The court further restrained both Umahi and Igwe from further parading themselves as governor or deputy governor of Ebonyi state.It should be noted that this judgement has been discarded by an Appeal Court sitting at Enugu which held that there was no consequence under the law against the defection of the holder of the office of the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor, to another political party from the party that sponsored the election that brought him or her to office.The Appellate Court in a unanimous judgement delivered by a three-man Panel led by Justice O.K Oyowole, held that the defection of a political office holder may appear immoral, but it was not the duty of the Court to embark on an investigation or probe into the provisions of the laws, warning that judicial activism must not be turned into judicial rascality. The Court further explained that there was no provision in sections 180, 188 or 189 of the 1999 constitution as amended, that empowered the Court to remove either a seating Governor or the Deputy from office.

       According to the learned Justices, the defection of an office holder is not novel to Nigeria’s judicial jurisprudence. Also, in the recent case of the Executive Governor of Cross River state, The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday dismissed a suit seeking to declare vacant the seat of Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade. Justice Taiwo Taiwo  cited the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Enugu that defection is not a ground for removal from office.The Justice noted that the removal of a sitting governor and his deputy can only be done in line with constitutional provisions.He added that under such provisions, the judiciary lacks the powers to remove an elected officer.

The Justice, however, agreed that defection from a winning party to a losing one is immoral and improper.

 

CONCLUSION

   In our opinion, the defection of Executive Governors from Political Parties under which they won an Election is Immoral, Improper, wrong and we do not agree with such act especially when it is done without a cogent reason but for selfish political interests. The issue remains that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) has provided for the grounds under which an Executive Governor can be removed under sections 188-190 which includes impeachment, death, medical grounds, resignatio. The defection of a Governor from a political party to another may not constitute for the removal of such Governor. The constitution only makes provision for members of the National and State Assemblies under section 68(G) which states:being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected: Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored;

          Moreso,  in order to put the issue of this unnecessary and immoral defections to satisfy selfish and greedy political interests, the legislators who are responsible for law making in the country should work towards amending the constitution to curb this excessive acts as it will check the activities of the Executives both the President, Vice President, Governors and Deputy Governors and it will also ensure a disciplined political system in Nigeria.

REFERENCE

-          Ede, Raphael. just-in-defection-appeal-court-dismisses-suit-against-umahi-deputy. DEFECTION. https://punchng.com/ 12 April 2022. Newspaper. 12 April 2022.

-          - Nnochiri, Ikechuwku. breaking-court-declines-to-sack-ayade-deputy-for-defecting-to-apc. DEFECTION. https://www.vanguardngr.com 04 April 2022. Newspaper. 12 April 2022.

-          OGBOCHIE,ANDREW, EME, OKECHUKWU .I.. "THE LEGAL/CONSTITUTION BASIS OF POLITICAL PARTY." Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review. (2014): .3.11. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & LOCAL GOVERNMENT STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA ENUGU STATE. Web

-          Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

ABOUT US

 

-    LEAD AUTHOR:   Lurogho Olukayode  [Llb (Afe Babalola University ,Ado Ekiti) B.l ( Nigerian Law School, Abuja) Acarb(Associate chartered arbitrator)]

-   Omotosho Oluwadamilola Marvellous Lawstudent From Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba

-   Osadugba Marvellous Ajijolajesu Lawstudent From Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba