Defecting to another party unconstitutional – PLAC warns legislators

The Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), Clement Nwankwo, has warned that it is unconstitutional for elected legislators to defect to other political parties.

Nwankwo stated this on Wednesday while responding to questions in an interview on Politics Today, Channels Television programme.

“I have been involved in the constitution-making process. Starting from the 1999 constitution in the Fourth Republic, I have been involved in every stage of the amendment.

“This alteration is taking place because each time you have alteration, the politicians devise a way of subverting it and so will come up with new measures and provisions on how to cover and avoid those manipulations by politicians.

“You talk about decamping from one party to another, for instance, it’s very clear in the constitution. If you are a legislator, you shouldn’t constitutionally run off to another party. The constitution forbids it,” he said.