𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 30𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗷𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆, 2025
𝗕𝗬: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝗷𝗲𝗶 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗕𝗼𝘅, 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽 𝗼𝗻
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐜𝐭 2022 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 109(1)(g) 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 1999 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧(𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝) 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 —𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐑𝐒 𝐄𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐈-𝐒𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐔, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭.
On January 29, 2025, chaos erupted at the PDP National Headquarters as former Youth Leader 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐔𝐝𝐞-𝐎𝐤𝐨𝐲𝐞 was attacked and forced out of a 𝐁𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐬(𝐁𝐎𝐓) meeting, exposing deep cracks in the party. Additionally, 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐨 plans to exit the PDP by February 2025, further proving an internal crisis. With the current mass resignations across Delta State’s 25 LGAs,𝐌𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐢-𝐒𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐮 has a strong case for defection without losing her seat.
𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐀𝐋 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:
• 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 109(1)(g) of the Constitution & Electoral Act 2022 – A legislator can only defect legally if the party is in crisis, which PDP’s current turmoil suggests.
• 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 84 of the Electoral Act – If a party’s internal struggles affect its governance, members can exit without penalty.
• 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 82(1) – Party Factionalism – If PDP fails to maintain unity, Mrs. Ibori-Suenu could argue it is too divided to enforce its authority over her seat.
𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗣𝗗𝗣 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀 2015 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗺?
A similar internal split led to PDP’s downfall in 2015, causing it to lose to 𝗔𝗣𝗖. If unresolved, history may repeat itself. Similarly, in biblical history, the Kingdom of Israel divided into the Northern kingdom (Israel) and the Southern kingdom (Judah) during the reigns of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, respectively. These examples illustrate how internal conflicts can lead to fragmentation and weakened entities.—a warning that disunity breeds failure.
𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁: 𝐀 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐃𝐏 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬,𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬:
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐃𝐏 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐞.
“𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫.”