NDC anti-defection law: Political loyalty or coercion?, By Zainab Suleiman Okino

Notwithstanding the misgivings over the NDC’s riot act, there is a silver lining to it.

We need to make progress as a nation. We need institutional mechanisms that keep elected officials in check within one party, working for their constituencies and country. We need to stop political prostitutes and nomadic politicians from playing with mandates freely given. The NDC might have shown the way.

Just when we thought we had seen enough of Nigeria’s peculiar political engineering since 1998, there are still curious and fascinating issues brought to bear on its development. The latest came from the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), Peter Obi’s newfound political abode.

The party has requested members to sign an oath to guarantee their loyalty to the party. Also called an anti-defection measure, the party, ironically, is seeking to prevent what it (and its members) have done to other political parties in the last few years.

The strange political strategy may be lawful, legal and trite, but it comes with a lot of moral baggage that has defined its major actors in the persons of Rabiu Kwankwaso and Peter Obi’s political trajectories.

The party’s scribe, Ikenna Enekweizu, justified the novel move, saying: “A political party is like any other association, and every member who subscribes to the membership of the party is bound by the provisions of the constitution of the party and decisions taken by the party’s properly constituted authorities. Within the NDC, the decision to make people sign that affidavit is provided for in our constitution.”

He may be right in theory, but in practical terms, such a strict and hard stance on members of a party they willingly join can backfire and trigger internal rebellion. Whether blackmail or subtle coercion, it could have the unintended consequence of driving away potential joiners, who may see the party as cult-like.

There was a time in this country when the PDP held sway and, in its peak days, started a revalidation exercise of members. The late National Secretary of the PDP, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, tagged it “shedding of excess weight”, akin to climbing the treadmill to lose calories. What followed was catastrophic: a steady descent of the party into the abyss, until it lost the presidential election in 2015 and is now out of reckoning.

The policy is also in contradiction with what political parties should stand for. That should include articulating a manifesto, how different it is from others, and what it has to offer. These ideals and ideologies should be embedded in the party’s manifesto and not in petty issues of loyalty or defection.

The policy is also in contradiction with what political parties should stand for. That should include articulating a manifesto, how different it is from others, and what it has to offer. These ideals and ideologies should be embedded in the party’s manifesto and not in petty issues of loyalty or defection.

Apart from Senator Seriake Dickson, the leader of the NDC, Obi and Kwankwaso are serial defectors. Obi started out with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), whose flag he bore as governor of Anambra State. He moved to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and, in 2019, became the party’s vice-presidential candidate. By 2023, Obi had changed colour. He moved to the Labour Party and became its flagbearer.

Under his nose, the LP was torn to shreds. He soon anchored at the doorstep of African Democratic Congress (ADC) and later at NDC, where he has become the flag-bearer of the party. How can that person be part of an arrangement to tie members down to one party in a country where free movement from one party to another is not a crime, and where he was a beneficiary of that not-so-decent arrangement?

Kwankwaso himself is a nomadic politician. From PDP to APC, to NNPP, back to ADC, before landing in NDC, what should be his punishment within the context of the rebranded NDC? With the defection precedents of these two politicians, what moral right do they have to subjugate others to their whims and caprices?

Also worthy of note is the exemption given to Obi and Kwankwaso in the loyalty sign-on. This is another form of bigotry and big-man mentality that characterises Nigerian politics – leaders who think they are better than party members yet seek to show that all animals are equal, while some are more equal than others. Make no mistake about it, these red flags are indicative of how their government may act if voted into power – the possible stratification of society into the haves and have-nots, we versus them, rich and poor, with despotism and favouritism defining their regime.

In Nigeria, political parties are special-purpose vehicles used and dumped by the political elite, the very group that should seek to protect them because they serve their interests. The NDC National Secretary said the NDC is trying “to prevent a situation where people see our political party only as a special-purpose vehicle for winning elections.

Notwithstanding the misgivings over the NDC’s riot act, there is a silver lining to it. We should all advocate, support and entrench restrictions on defection in our constitution. Defections have destroyed our country and made a mincemeat of democracy. Only a constitutional amendment to that effect can bring about sanity in the system and restore trust in politics.

“We are trying to build a party that will last and stand the test of time – where people do not just say, ‘Oh, because a particular person is contesting under this platform, let us go there, and the moment we win elections, we all leave.’”

Agreed, but we are yet to see exceptions in the political space, and not even among the NDC leaders. The other snag is the fact that the NDC leaders had succeeded in destroying others before they woke up to this new realisation.

How many of their leaders are immune from this phenomenon that has destroyed politics and the polity, thereby making a mess of governance and entrenching corruption and loss of accountability? When in opposition and accused of corruption, they join the ruling party, get the anointing, and are beatified as saints. This cyclical trend hamstrings political development, destroys good governance and democratic rule.

In Britain, prime ministers who leave office generally remain within their parties and continue contributing to party development. They do not necessarily run away from the parties that brought them to power. Their experience often helps rebuild their parties, rather than weaken them. That is how enduring institutions are built.

Notwithstanding the misgivings over the NDC’s riot act, there is a silver lining to it. We should all advocate, support and entrench restrictions on defection in our constitution. Defections have destroyed our country and made a mincemeat of democracy. Only a constitutional amendment to that effect can bring about sanity in the system and restore trust in politics.

We need to make progress as a nation. We need institutional mechanisms that keep elected officials in check within one party, working for their constituencies and country. We need to stop political prostitutes and nomadic politicians from playing with mandates freely given. The NDC might have shown the way.

Zainab Suleiman Okino (FNGE) chairs the Editorial Board of Blueprint Newspaper. She is a syndicated columnist and can be reached via: zainabokino@gmail.com