The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has introduced an anti-defection policy aimed at preventing elected officials from abandoning the party after winning elections, although its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and running mate, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso, are exempt from the requirement.
Unveiled on Tuesday at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, the policy mandates governorship, National Assembly, and other candidates to sign indemnity and affidavit forms pledging to vacate their seats if they defect from the party.
The measure is expected to affect several high-profile politicians who recently joined the NDC ahead of the 2027 general elections, including former Adamawa State governorship candidate Aishatu Binani.
Clarifying the policy in a post on X, the party’s Director of New Media and Strategic Communication, Theo Agada, said Obi and Kwankwaso are not subject to the directive.
“The policy does not affect the presidential candidate, His Excellency Peter Obi, and the vice presidential candidate, His Excellency Alhaji Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. The party trusts the commitment of our presidential and vice presidential nominees, and they are not bound by this policy. This internal policy is aimed at building the NDC as an institution and preventing political prostitution among some of its members. They are exempted,” Agada explained.
Notedly, many of the party’s key leaders, including Obi and Kwankwaso, were absent from the event.
Speaking during the ceremony, NDC National Chairman Moses Cleopas explained that the party is determined to protect its electoral mandates and enforce internal discipline through the principle of party supremacy.
He noted that the policy was informed by years of observing politicians secure electoral victories on party platforms only to abandon them for personal convenience, specifically pointing to the recent history of the Labour Party.
“In our last NEC meeting, a motion was moved, supported, and established that when we take over the government, people elected on the platform of our party must respect the party’s instrument. This is not just a party for one man to rise and achieve his ambitions and do anything he likes with the party. This is a political party that we desire to groom and hand over to the next generation,” Cleopas said.
He further lamented the current political culture of defecting, stating, “One thing we have come to observe is that in the present polity, when people contest elections and win under political parties, they become gods. And in between the time that they ought to have, they will just do for one minor excuse to dump the platform and perhaps go into the ruling party.”
He noted the fallout experienced by other opposition parties, adding that the party took lessons from them.
Cleopas said, “A very typical example that we have all seen in the last three years is the Labour Party, where so many individuals won elections under the platform of the party. Now, we are in another election cycle. Go and check their history. How many of the people who won elections under the Labour Party and were inaugurated are still members of the party?
“If all of them had remained, you and I can imagine how the Labour Party could have been today, even if they had not won the presidency. When you see these kinds of things happening, it is expedient that you start to think of how to guide your political parties. That is why, in the spirit of party supremacy, I am not against the Nigerian constitution, which is the ground norm and has guaranteed every citizen of this country freedom of participation.”
The chairman emphasized that while participation in the NDC remains voluntary, strict compliance with internal safeguards is non-negotiable for all flagbearers.
“If you want to contest the election under the platform of the NDC, you are free to come. Nobody is forcing you. But when you come, you should know that there are certain rules by which we, as a political party, guide our members.
“One of them is that if you contest an election under our platform and win, under no circumstances, as against what is provided for in the 1999 constitution, that you will just wake up to say that I don’t like the NDC again, or I don’t like the face of my national or state chairman. Therefore, now that I am already elected, I am leaving the party,” he warned.
He added, “Today, all candidates and aspirants are here in large numbers. So if you win, the mandate is owned by the party. If you otherwise choose to leave, go the same way you came and leave what you picked from here. That is why we brought our National Legal Adviser and his team to prepare documents that include affidavit and indemnity forms for every candidate in all categories to fill and take the oath.”
Defending the legality of the measure, the party’s National Legal Adviser, Reuben Egwuaba, argued that political parties are voluntary associations governed by internal rules that members explicitly accept.
“A political party is just like a club, church or mosque where there are rules and regulations. That is why the 1999 constitution, under Section 222, states that a candidate of a political party is just a mere agent of the party. And once a candidate is declared the winner and inaugurated, until the expiration of the tenure upon which that candidate won the election and was inaugurated, the mandate belongs to the political party, not any other. So, if you are privileged to win the election after clinching the party ticket, that does not mean the mandate belongs to you,” Egwuaba stressed.