On Tuesday, 8th March, 2022, The Federal High Court (Coram Inyang Ekwo J.) sacked the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, alongside 15 lawmakers in the State over crossing the floor from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). In sacking the governor and his deputy, the learned trial judge ruled that the votes polled by a political party could not be transferred to or utilised for the benefit of another political party or member of another political party. In acknowledging that the Constitution was silent on the implication of the defection of a governor or his deputy, the learned trial judge opined that “such a lacuna was not to be celebrated or even mischievously flaunted as failure of a remedy for situations of such nature.”

Before going neck deep in per se into the subject matter of this article, I will like to ask some thought-provoking questions; Why exactly do political parties exist? Are political parties created to form a basis of unhealthy rivalry for one another? What should reasonably happen If a political office holder senses conspiracy against him/her by party stake holders and decided crossing the floor in order to avoid a hamper on political office activities of which he represented the mandate of his/her people?

Every uncanny political happenings in the country today is a result of the rooted culture of contradictory pragmatism! What do I mean? An average electorate is guided by the idea that his/her choice of candidate for a political office matters rather than the political party itself. While on the other side of the divide, the party actors/stake holders believe the party is overly in charge of candidacy and that all votes secured during elections belong solely to the party by virtue of the constitutional provision that an independent candidate cannot contest election into any political office without being sponsored by a party. This clear cut contradictory pragmatism has led politics in our country astray and political actors with ulterior motives are leveraging hard on it to get what they want..

In the process of trying to weather the political storm, responsible and concerned parastatals should understand that there are forces in existence capable of worsening or perhaps, spearheading a fresh political storm; the very true fact that some favourable outlines of the constitutional provision enjoyed by politicians seem inconsequential ab initio, however, a heavy hunt down on the politicians by these “once favourable outlines” in the long run. I call this the crux of Political Karma.

Defection or floor crossing is a strategic tool which is meant to be wielded in a positive and strategic manner in order to save the day for a challenged political office holder most especially when the activities of the sponsoring party tends to disrupt general interest. Though we could point out the gross misuse of the concept, nevertheless, the political sphere cannot do without it for some most likely logical reasons.

Over the years, there had existed number of cases as regards defection and series of political and legal articles have been and still being written concerning the former. The recent court sack of Dave Umahi for sole defection brought about an outraged controversy among political and legal elites as to whether the court was right or wrong in its controversial decision. For some, it is an okay development while some initiate verbal fisticuffs with their professional jargons impatiently waiting at an open corner for swift and boisterous engagement.

This article is a rejoinder of Learned Silk, Femi Falana’s sociolegal submission on vote ownership.

The Learned Silk posited that majority of voters actually exercised their franchise in favour of the PDP and that after all, the names of the candidate and his deputy’s were not on the ballot papers. The Learned Silk must have sidelined the after effects of electioneering solely coordinated by candidate’s campaign team for a larger mobilization to amass vote for the candidate and indirectly for the party. I have done a considerable amount of research and I remain irrevocably resolute that an average voter votes for a party on behalf of a choice candidate and not vice versa. The supportive act of over one million Ebonyi youths coming out to protest over the court order removing Dave Umahi from the gubernatorial seat is an obvious attestation that they voted for the PDP on the former’s behalf. The oath solemnly sworn by State Governors negates their political devotion and obeisance to the sponsoring political party as it emphasizes total devotion to the service and well-being of the people. The issue as to whether or not the candidate’s name appeared on the ballot paper is irrelevant and should be discarded.

The Learned Silk to my dissatisfaction affirms that it is interesting INEC has not been challenged in any court for their age long practice of declaring a political party as the winner of an election other than the candidate(s). The Learned Silk must have understood the intricacies that comes alongside specifications in processes like this, however, he felt it would be reasonable to let go of its engagement as a taste of such will probably fault political algorithm and so therefore, a general mode is activated for simplicity.

The Learned Silk categorically stated that defection is borne out of wanton opportunities and thereby shifting to the dangerous extreme, party conspiracies interwoven with political vendettas which include but not limited to internal party conflict as one formidable cause of defection.

The Learned Silk went further to erroneously stereotype persons with disinterest in the court verdict to have so much relied on the AGF v. Abubakar Atiku case whereas it’s very much contrastive as myself who does not appraise the verdict at all never took the aforementioned case even to the slightest consideration. I solely regarded my aforelisted rejoinders; no question as to opting for logic or intuition.

Contrary to the Learned Silk’s reaffirmation of the positions of Anagiolu JSC and Obaseki JSC in the case of FEDECO v. Gonias regards floor crossing, the concept of floor crossing/defection should not be abolished for no just or convincing reason(s). What ought to be done is to mull over and refurbish the concept on ground of good usage; let us take our time to see acceptable reasons for defection other than party division. The burden should therefore be on the defector to prove beyond reasonable doubt as to why he/she defected from the party; more of a criminal case and as such, a defector could only be found either guilty or not after the conventional court procedurals regarding all sort of admissible evidences as to defection.

Let me reaffirm my first rejoinder as to vote ownership being the crux of this article. Taking into consideration the exorbitant prices for procuring nomination forms and other miscellaneous like expression of interest form; Oh, what a wanton political disposition! This singular act of “trade politics” have jeopardized democracy and the political sector at large as men and women at the lower rungs of the society are seized of the opportunity to contest for political offices and showcase their leadership prowess all because they couldn’t afford what will guarantee their candidacy. The rich ones get hold of it all and from an ownership standpoint, they develop the mentality of “it is now mine. I have bought it”. For some defectors, it is believed that for the sponsoring party to have collected such a huge amount of money from them just to fulfill the mandate of the people, they believed it is no longer a tenement and as such, no hesitation to defect once they sense any form of threat coming from or within the sponsoring political party. So therefore, one way floor crossing can be regulated and a political party take sole control of their flag bearer’s vote is the moderation of what I tag as “approval money” which consist price of nomination tickets and other miscellaneous. Honourable Justice Ganjili in APC Marafa admonishes politicians sabotaging the political sphere with uncouth tools including but not limited to defection to either play according to the rules and regulations of healthy political practice or drag the political society to the Stone Age (an era of underdevelopment and ruin). Until the good deed is done, we will keep bamboozling one another in the political sphere. The heated argument which is imminent will be grounded on a reversed but modified mantra that reads “how can I lose when I came here with something huge!”. I am somewhat convinced that this uncouth act of trade politics by a sponsoring party coupled with bureaucratic bottlenecks exhibited in party structural leadership raise the greedy nature of man from the dead, therefore the motive to embezzle appropriated funds becomes overly embedded in the hearts of political office holders.

The Learned Silk also stated unequivocally that the sponsoring political party will always have the back of their flag bearer(s), come rain or shine! However the recent incident that befell the erstwhile governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, on ground of fund embezzlement, and ill party confraternization confirm the mere sugar-coatedness of the Learned Silk’s assertion.
Emmanuel A. Owosanni

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