The National Secretary of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Ikenna Enekweizu, has defended the party’s decision to require candidates to sign an oath of loyalty, insisting the move is aimed at reducing political defections.
Enekweizu, who spoke on Wednesday on Channels Television’s Politics Today, rejected claims that the policy violates the constitution.
“First and foremost, a political party is like any other association, and every member who subscribes to the membership of the party is bound by the provisions of the constitution of the party and decisions taken by the party’s properly constituted authorities.
”Within NDC, the decision to make people sign that affidavit is provided for in our constitution,” he said.
He maintained that party membership comes with binding rules and that legal precedent supports the enforcement of internal party constitutions.
“Any lawyer would know it is trite law that members of any association are bound by the provisions of that constitution.
”There are several decided cases on this… You can only test that in the law courts.
”At this stage, we have not gotten to that point. What we are trying to do is to learn from the mistakes of other parties.”
The party had earlier announced the loyalty requirement, saying it is part of efforts to strengthen internal discipline and protect its structure from post-election defections.
According to NDC National Chairman, Moses Cleopas, the policy was introduced in response to repeated cases where elected officials abandon the parties that sponsored their elections, a trend he said has weakened party systems.
Enekweizu added that the party was also motivated by past experiences, pointing to lawmakers elected under the Labour Party in the 2023 elections who later defected.
He explained that the goal is to prevent a situation where political parties are treated merely as vehicles for winning elections, only for beneficiaries to leave once victory is secured.
“We are trying to prevent a situation where people see our political party only as a special purpose vehicle for winning elections.
”We are trying to build a party that will last and stand the test of time—where people do not just say, ‘Oh, because a particular person is contesting under this platform, let us go there, and the moment we win elections, we all leave.’
“We won’t permit that in our party.”
On exemptions, he disclosed that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and vice presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, are not required to sign the oath.
“The constitution says everybody running under the platform of the party has to sign, but the party has taken the administrative decision that those required to sign in this instance do not include the presidential candidate and his vice.
“We are more concerned about those elected into the legislative assemblies who get in there and defect within a year,” he said, stressing that the focus is on lawmakers at national and state levels rather than the executive offices.
