The Nigeria Democratic Congress has introduced a stringent anti-defection policy aimed at preventing elected officials from abandoning the party after winning elections.
The policy requires its presidential, governorship, National Assembly and other candidates to sign indemnity and affidavit forms committing to vacate their seats if they defect.
The policy, unveiled on Tuesday at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, is expected to affect prominent politicians on the party’s platform, including its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, his running mate, Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso and several high-profile defectors who recently joined the party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
An indemnity form is a legal document used to shift legal responsibility from one party to another.
By signing it, a person or organisation agrees to cover specific potential losses, damages, or lawsuits, “holding harmless” the other party from any financial burden or penalty.
Speaking during the signing ceremony attended by some candidates, NDC National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, said the party was determined to protect its electoral mandates and enforce internal discipline through what he described as the principle of party supremacy.
According to him, the decision was informed by years of observing politicians secure electoral victories on party platforms only to abandon those same parties for personal or political convenience.
He said, “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.
“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’s anti-defection policy was informed by the experience of other opposition parties, particularly the Labour Party, which lost many elected members after the 2023 elections.
According to him, the party could have become a much stronger political force if those who won elections on its platform had remained loyal.
“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 chairman stressed that while no one is being compelled to join the NDC, anyone seeking elective office on its platform must agree to abide by the party’s rules.
Cleopas added that the party would no longer tolerate a situation where candidates win elections under its banner only to defect to other parties a few years later for personal or political reasons.
He said, “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.
“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.”
He added that the measure was designed to strengthen party discipline and ensure the long-term survival of the NDC, insisting that the process was lawful, voluntary and intended to test the sincerity of those seeking to contest elections on the party’s platform.
Also speaking, the party’s National Legal Adviser, Reuben Egwuaba, defended the policy, arguing that political parties remained voluntary associations governed by internal 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,” he stressed.
However, many of the party’s bigwigs, including Obi, Kwankwaso and other chieftains, were absent at the event.
The development is widely seen as an attempt by the NDC to avoid the fate suffered by several opposition parties that lost elected members to rival platforms shortly after elections.
The policy could particularly affect some of the party’s most prominent figures whose political careers have spanned multiple parties.
Obi’s political journey has taken him from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, under which he became governor of Anambra State in 2006, to the Peoples Democratic Party in 2014, the Labour Party in 2022, the African Democratic Congress in 2025, and eventually the NDC in 2026.
Similarly, Kwankwaso has moved between the PDP, the All Progressives Congress, the New Nigeria People’s Party, the ADC and, most recently, the NDC.
Former Adamawa State governorship candidate, Aishatu Binani, is also among the recent entrants into the party.
Binani left the APC for the ADC in July 2025 before joining the NDC in May 2026.
