A LEGAL APPRAISAL OF THE IMPLICATION OF POLITICAL PARTY DEFECTION IN NIGERIA DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

Abstract

Political party defection has become a norm in Nigeria especially amongst elected executive and legislative office holders who leave the political party that got them into office to join another political party while in office. This state of affair betrays the will of the electorate who must have cast their votes for a political party they believe in. This article did a legal appraisal of the implication of political party defection in Nigeria. The article used doctrinal research methodology and employed both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary sources of data include the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended) and case laws while secondary sources of data from journal articles and internet materials were used. The research found that there has been incessant cases of defection in Nigeria’s democratic journey, and while there are some legal implications for defecting legislators, there is no legal implication for their executive counterparts, and there is need for such defection to come with some consequences. The article recommended that the consequences for party defection should be extended to elected executive office holders.