By Ambassador Yemi Farounbi
We have witnessed in the last one year a gale of defections from one political party to another among elected officials. We have seen it in SENATE, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, STATE HOUSES OF ASSEMBLY. Now we are seeing Governors and entire Government collapsing into another party. I recall that former National Chairman, Ganduje welcomed this trend.
I recall that President Tinubu in his speech on June 12, 2025 at the National Assembly applauded this trend and hoped that more Governors will Cross to APC.
I have also seen some crossing over to ADC. I recall that former Chairman of APC, Senator Oshiomole openly invited sinners to crossover to APC and become saints.
I sincerely believe that all these defections are illegal, unlawful and illegitimate . The truth is that, it is illegal and unlawful for an elected official at any level to defect from a party to the another.
My reasoning is based on a Supreme Court judgment delivered on October 25 ,2007 in a case between Rotimi Amechi vs INEC, CELESTINE OMEHIA and others.
The Supreme Court held that “IT IS THE POLITICAL PARTY THAT CONTESTS AND WINS ELECTIONS, AND NOT THE INDIVIDUAL CANDIDATE. “
In a landmark pronunciation, Justice Katsina-Alu said, “THE LAW IS THAT IT IS THE PARTY THAT WINS THE ELECTION. A VOTE FOR THE CANDIDATE THAT WINS AN ELECTION IS A VOTE FOR THE PARTY THAT SPONSORED HIM. IN THIS CASE, PDP WON THE ELECTION NOT OMEHIA “
If this is the position of the law, can an elected official deflect to another party, and still retain his position?.
The official, as explained by the Supreme Court, IS NOT THE ONE WHO WON THE ELECTION BUT THE PARTY THAT SPONSORED HIM. Can the official really stop being a member of the Party that sponsored him and still have any claim to be an elected official? By Supreme Court ruling, it is clear to me that once an elected official leaves the Party won the election, he cannot claim to be an elected official, be it Senator, Member of House of Representatives, Member of State House of Assembly, Council Chairman, Governor, or President.
It would appear to me that all those who defected from the political party that sponsored them and therefore the winner have stopped being elected officials.
I believe that true Democrats must pursue principles that are of universal application. And if democracy must survive in this country, elected officials must know they are Representatives of an electorate that preferred the party which presented them.
Elected officials are not delegates, that are almost free agents. Elected officials have undetachable umbilical cords tying them to the parties on the platform of which they were elected. Once they leave the party, they stopped being elected representatives.
In my view, such persons who have committed this illegality should return to the party that won the elections. Otherwise their seats should be declared vacant.
Amb. Yemi Farounbi OON
