The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Afam Osigwe, SAN, has stated that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lacks the constitutional authority to declare the seat of any governor vacant over defection from one political party to another.
Naija News reports that Osigwe’s statement came in response to a public call by Kenneth Okonkwo, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nollywood actor, who urged INEC to declare Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State’s seat vacant following his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Okonkwo argued that Diri’s resignation from the PDP, the party on which he was elected in 2023, meant he had automatically vacated his seat as governor.
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In a social media post, Okonkwo cited Section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which stipulates that a person seeking to be elected governor must be a member of a political party and sponsored by that party. He called on INEC to swiftly declare Diri’s seat vacant and conduct a fresh election within 90 days.
Governor Diri announced his resignation from the PDP on Wednesday during an expanded State Executive Council meeting at the Bayelsa Government House, Yenagoa.
The meeting was attended by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Abraham Ingobere, his deputy, Michael Ogbere, and several other lawmakers.
Diri attributed his decision to “obvious reasons,” fueling speculation that he may be joining the All Progressives Congress (APC), especially after the defection of Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah and other key figures to the APC.
However, Okonkwo’s call for INEC’s intervention was swiftly rebutted by Osigwe.
Osigwe, speaking in an interview with Saturday Punch, dismissed Okonkwo’s interpretation of the law as “baseless and unconstitutional.”
According to Osigwe, the Constitution and existing judicial precedents do not grant INEC or any other authority the power to remove a member of the executive, including the president, vice president, governor, or deputy governor, for defecting from one political party to another.
The NBA president pointed to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Atiku v. Attorney-General of the Federation case, which clarified that the constitutional provision about loss of seat due to defection applies only to legislators, not executive officeholders.
“In 2006, Atiku Abubakar was vice president under Olusegun Obasanjo. They were elected on the PDP platform, and when Atiku defected to the AC, the president sought to declare his office vacant. The matter went all the way to the Supreme Court, and the court made it clear that the issue of losing a seat due to defection does not apply to the executive, only to the legislature,” Osigwe explained.
Osigwe emphasised that the law on this matter is settled and should no longer be a topic of debate.
“Here we are in 2025, still wasting time on what the Supreme Court has already settled. There is no provision in the Constitution allowing the removal of a governor because he changed parties. A governor can defect 50 times, and there will still be no legal basis to declare his seat vacant,” Osigwe added.
He urged Nigerians, as well as political commentators, to stop “wasting judicial and journalistic time” on issues that have already been resolved by the courts. Osigwe insisted that the constitutional position is “clear and unambiguous”.