Get Guardian on GoogleThe New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and 45 lawmakers at the Federal High Court in Abuja over the legislators’ alleged failure to complete the required resignation processes before defecting from the party.
The suit seeks judicial interpretation and enforcement of constitutional provisions regulating the defection of elected lawmakers from the political parties on whose platforms they secured their mandates in the 2023 general elections.
In an affidavit in support of the originating summons, the NNPP challenged the alleged defections of the 45 lawmakers, comprising members of the Kano State House of Assembly, the House of Representatives, and the Senate.
It alleged that the affected lawmakers abandoned the party for others, while retaining the legislative seats they won on its platform without complying with the proceduresthat it said were required to terminate their membership.
Among other allegations, the NNPP further alleged that some of the lawmakers had already been listed by INEC as candidates of other political parties for the 2027 general elections, raising questions about the legality of their nominations and the continued occupancy of their current legislative seats.
In an October 19, 2026, letter to INEC, the party said it had drawn the commission’s attention to the alleged defections and requested an investigation into the circumstances surrounding their purported resignations and subsequent membership of other political parties.
The party expressed concern that the affected legislators allegedly remained on the NNPP membership register while simultaneously being registered as members of other parties, arguing that this violated statutory provisions governing political party membership.
The NNPP also maintained that the defections occurred without the requisite clearance from its Board of Trustees and compliance with its electoral guidelines, citing Articles 8.2(a), 8.2(b) and 8.3(a) of its constitution.
Meanwhile, the NNPP founder and Chairman of its Board of Trustees, Dr Boniface Aniebonam, had warned against attempts to backdate the resignation of members who allegedly failed to complete the process before the party notified INEC of their non-compliance with its constitution.
Aniebonam said the party would not accept any intervention aimed at regularising such resignations retrospectively, warning that falsifying resignation records would amount to criminality.
