A socio-political activist and General Overseer of Temple Rebuilders Ministry, Pastor Barnabas Otoibhi, has called for a ban on the defection of elected political office holders in the country.
In a memorandum dated July 19, 2025, and addressed to the Chairman of the House of Representatives Constitution Review Committee, Benjamin Kalu, Otoibhi said defection by political office holders was unhealthy, describing it as a symptom of unfaithfulness when it is motivated by selfish interest, unpatriotic and unethical considerations.
He proposed amendments to Section 68(1)(g) and Section 109(1)(g) of the constitution to correct what he termed lapses and inadequacies that allow elected office holders to defect with impunity.
Otoibhi said many elected political office holders, who he described as unprincipled and unethical, evaded the law of conscience and took advantage of lapses in the constitution to defect from their political party to another.
“Painfully, they get away with their unethical conduct because of inherent lapses and inadequate provisions in the Constitution,” he added.
Otoibhi, in the memo sighted by Saturday PUNCH, said, “In Nigeria, the gale of defections by elected political office holders has assumed an embarrassing level, thereby causing political hypertension to political party members, disillusionment to the electorate and instability in the political atmosphere.”
He cited the cases of former governors David Umahi of Ebonyi State, Mattawalle of Zamfara State, and Ben Ayade of Cross River State, who all defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress while serving as governors of their various states.
The cleric lamented that the Court of Appeal, particularly in the case of Umahi, stated that the constitution only referred to legislators and nothing more in the cases filed against the former governors’ defection.
Recently, Delta and Akwa Ibom State governors, Sheriff Oborevwori and Umo Eno, respectively, left the PDP for the APC.
This is as many state and national lawmakers have also left the opposition parties for the APC.
Otoibhi argued that defection while retaining office amounts to “robbery against the political party and the electorate.”
He said, “If you choose to defect from the political party that brought you to office to another, then take the path of honour by resigning from the office.
“In Nigeria, we practice multi-party democracy. This means that every electoral victory is jointly owned by three stakeholders, namely the political party, the candidate and the electorate.
“Consequently, defection by an elected political office holder while clinging to the office won amounts to robbery against the political party and the electorate.”
He proposed that defection should be outlawed for the following: the President and Vice President, members of the national and state assemblies, governors and deputy governors, local government chairmen and their deputies, and councillors.
Permissible reasons for defection, he said, should be limited to the political party ceasing to exist, a merger, or voluntary resignation from office.
The cleric warned that the current constitutional provision allowing defection on the grounds of division within a party was being exploited and should be removed.
Otoibhi also recommended stiff penalties for violators, stating, “Let us make our society a better place where elected political office holders shall be under obligation to esteem and treat citizens with decency, not shabbily.”
