Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress’s presidential candidate, and Rabiu Kwankwaso, his running partner, have been left out of the party’s recently implemented anti-defection pledge requirement.
Ikenna Enekweizu, the party’s national secretary, revealed this on Wednesday in an interview with Politics Today on Channels Television.
Enekweizu clarified that the oath, which is based on the NDC constitution and represents internal guidelines that are required of all members, is meant to deter elected officials from leaving the party following elections.
He maintained that political parties function as voluntary organizations with members required to follow established guidelines and choices made by respectable party institutions.
First and foremost, a political party is just like any other group, and all of its members are obligated to abide by the party’s constitution and the decisions made by its duly formed officials.
“Our constitution provides for the decision to have people sign that affidavit within NDC,” he stated.
Enekweizu disclosed that the party leadership had taken an administrative decision to spare the presidential and vice-presidential candidates from the requirement, although maintaining that all candidates are typically required to swear the oath.
“Everyone running under the party’s platform is required by the constitution to sign, but the party has decided administratively that the presidential candidate and his vice are exempt from this requirement,” he said.
The program, he continued, was primarily intended to deal with the regular defection of state and federal lawmakers following elections.
“The national and state assembly members elected on our party’s platform are our main focus, not the governor or the president,” he stated.
He claims that the anti-defection rule was put in place to safeguard the party’s structure and stop elected officials from using it as a platform for their campaigns before defecting after they were elected.
According to Enekweizu, the party is still dedicated to creating a solid political organization that can maintain discipline, loyalty, and long-term unity.
Nigeria’s democracy has historically been plagued by political defections, with elected people at all levels frequently changing parties following elections, sometimes blaming internal conflicts, ideological disagreements, or political realignments.
This tendency has undermined opposition programs and caused instability within party structures over time, which has led to the introduction of internal regulations by a number of parties to enforce member loyalty.
