Did the Governorship candidate of the APC in Rivers State Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda, who until this week was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, properly decamp from the PDP to become the flag bearer of the APC in the race to occupy government house Port Harcourt?
According to section 68(1) (g) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)
“A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if –
(g) being a person whose election to the House
was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the
expiration of the period for which that House was elected;
Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political
parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored;
(2) The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, shall give effect to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, so however that the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of
Representatives or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House
concerned that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of that member.”
The Supreme Court of Nigeria in its judgment delivered on February 28, 2025, on the consolidated appeals including Rivers State House of Assembly & Anor vs. Governor of Rivers State & 9 Ors (Suit No: SC/CV/1174/2025), established clear prerequisite criteria and administrative steps required for a legislator’s defection (decamping) to be legally valid under Section 68 and Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the apex court’s pronouncements and subsequent legal applications the four specific criteria that must be met include:
Existential Party Crisis: The political party from which the legislator is defecting must be actively experiencing a severe, functional crisis that fundamentally stops it from operating.
Formal Resignation: A valid letter of resignation must be formally submitted by the lawmaker and acknowledged by their original political party at the ward level.
New Party Admittance: The legislator must hold a valid letter of admission and an official membership card issued by the new political party.
Plenary Declaration by Presiding Officer: The defection must be formally announced and declared during a plenary session by the Speaker or Presiding Officer of the specific legislative house to which the lawmaker belongs.
The Supreme Court notably ruled that superficial indicators such as the mere flying of a new party’s flags or depositing an affidavit are legally insufficient to constitute a valid defection.
Furthermore, the court emphasized that a legislative seat cannot simply be presumed vacant until the proper internal legislative channels are satisfied and a formal declaration is entered into the records during plenary.
From the above judgment of the Supreme Court a few questions can be deduced, to wit;
Hon. Chinda belongs to the Wike faction of the PDP that controls the party, is there an existential party crisis in that faction?
i. When was his defection announced on the floor of the House of Representatives?
ii. When did he join the APC as a political party?
iii. Shouldn’t his seat have been declared vacant in compliance with the provisions of Section 68(2) of the same Constitution?
iv. Was he a member of the APC properly so called as at when he stood for the primaries of the party?
v. Was his name in the Register of the Party submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission at least 21 days before the primaries in compliance with Section 77(4) of the Electoral Act 2026
Section 77 (4) and (5) of the Electoral Act 2026 provides:
- (1) A political party registered under this Act shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its
corporate name.
(2) A party shall maintain a digital register of its members containing the name, sex, date of birth, address, State, Local Government, ward, polling unit, National Identification Number and photograph in both hard and soft copies.
(3) Upon registration, a membership card shall be issued to the member.
(4) Each political party shall make such register available to the Commission not later than 21 days before the date fixed for the party primaries, congresses or
conventions.
(5) Only members whose names are contained in the register shall be eligible to vote and be voted for in party primaries, congresses and conventions.
(6) A political party shall not use any other register for party primaries, congresses and conventions except the register submitted to the Commission.
We will attempt to answer some of these questions in our next class of Learning the Law.
Keep a date with us.
@Liborous Oshoma Esq.