The Nigeria Democratic Congress has unveiled a new anti-defection policy requiring its candidates for elective offices to commit to retaining their membership in the party after winning elections.
However, the directive does not apply to the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and his running mate, Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The policy was presented on Tuesday at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja. Under the arrangement, governorship candidates, National Assembly aspirants, and other flagbearers will be required to sign indemnity and affidavit documents committing themselves to surrender their mandates should they choose to leave the party after being elected.
The development is expected to affect several prominent politicians who recently joined the NDC in preparation for the 2027 general elections, among them former Adamawa State governorship candidate, Aishatu Binani.
Providing clarification on the policy through a post on X, the party’s Director of New Media and Strategic Communication, Theo Agada, explained that the presidential and vice-presidential candidates would not be subjected to the measure.
“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.
Notably, several leading figures of the party, including Obi and Kwankwaso, did not attend the unveiling ceremony.
Speaking at the event, NDC National Chairman Moses Cleopas said the policy was designed to strengthen party discipline and safeguard mandates secured on the party’s platform. He stressed that the NDC intends to build a lasting political institution guided by the principle of party supremacy.
According to him, the decision followed years of witnessing elected officials abandon the political parties that sponsored them once they secured office, a trend he said has weakened opposition politics in Nigeria.
“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 criticized the culture of political defections, arguing that many elected officials often place personal interests above party loyalty.
“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.”
Cleopas said the NDC had drawn lessons from the experiences of other opposition parties, particularly the Labour Party, which he cited as an example of how defections can weaken a political movement.
“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 party chairman maintained that membership of the NDC remains voluntary but warned that candidates seeking the party’s platform must agree to abide by its internal regulations.
“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 disclosed that all aspirants and candidates would be required to complete legal documents prepared by the party as part of the process.
“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.”
Also speaking, the party’s National Legal Adviser, Reuben Egwuaba, defended the legality of the policy, insisting that political parties are voluntary organisations governed by rules accepted by their members.
“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.
