The electoral umpire in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has called for an end to defection within the National and State Houses of Assembly. He did this while stating that lawmakers should be barred from defecting from one party to another while still in office.
The suggestion was shared by the body while presenting a report titled “Report of the 2019 General Elections” in the country’s capital of Abuja. According to the report, “such defectors should automatically lose their seats except in the case of merger of two or more parties.”
INEC went on to ask for a constitutional amendment that would back its recent recommendation.
Defection Is Not New In Nigeria
Nigerian lawmakers have been known to infamously defect from one party to another ahead of major elections. These defections, oftentimes a reflection of internal cracks in the party’s structure caused by the ambition of the lawmaker or a shift in party leadership, have become a mainstay in Nigerian politics.
In 2018, ahead of the 2019 general elections, former Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). While Saraki initially announced a bid for the presidency in his new party, he ended up spearheading the campaign for Atiku Abubakar, who eventually became the party’s presidential candidate.
Saraki and Dogara’s defection was met with backlash from the APC, which asked for the resignation of the lawmakers on the grounds that the Senate President and the Speaker should not be from a minority party.
The PDP recently filed a case against INEC, current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and Rep member, Ephraim Nwuzi of Rivers state, over Nwuzi’s defection to the APC.
INEC also made other proposals including, the “creation of electoral offenses commission and tribunal with powers to arrest, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders; automation of the nomination process to facilitate the storage, access, and retrieval of candidates’ data. Sourcing of its ad hoc personnel from its pool of retired staff, delivery of all non-sensitive election materials to states and FCT offices 30 days to any election so as ensure proper audit and quality assurance; need to review the criteria for recruiting collation officers and returning officers.”
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral and political reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
