By a Political Columnist, Pamela.O.
In the theatre of Nigerian politics, where loyalty is often demanded but rarely reciprocated, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of Abia South stands as a compelling case study in resilience against institutional bullying.
As the dust settles on his formal defection to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the shrill calls from APGA Abia State for his seat to be declared vacant reveal less about constitutional fidelity and more about political score-settling.
Let’s be clear from the outset: Senator Abaribe did not wake up one morning and abandon his party on a whim.
By September 2025, APGA’s state executive had slapped him with an *indefinite suspension* — a fancy term for political isolation and public humiliation.
For over six months, he was frozen out, denied participation, and subjected to relentless public criticism. In any functional political party, such prolonged ostracisation is expulsion in all but name.
When Abaribe eventually tendered a resignation letter in December, it was merely the formalisation of a divorce that the party had already initiated and consummated.
APGA’s current narrative — that he “voluntarily resigned” and must therefore vacate his seat — is clever lawyering but poor politics. It attempts to eat its cake and have it. You cannot drive a man out through indefinite suspension, treat him as a pariah for months, and then cry foul when he finds a new political home.
The Constitution, under Section 68(1)(g), was never designed to punish a lawmaker whom his own sponsoring party has effectively ejected.
Abaribe’s argument before the Senate was both logical and constitutionally sound: this provision does not cover a situation where the party itself terminates the relationship.
Beyond the legal technicalities lies a deeper principle: “the mandate belongs to the people, not the party. Abaribe won his seat in 2023 on the strength of his personal brand, performance, and acceptability across Abia South.
Voters did not queue up for an APGA logo; they voted for a man they believed could represent them effectively. To now suggest that the party owns that mandate like a piece of property, to be reclaimed at will, is an arrogant assault on democratic sovereignty.
If APGA truly believes it has lost the confidence of the electorate through Abaribe, the honest path is recall — not Senate intrigue or media harassment.
The selective outrage is particularly telling. Nigerian politics is littered with defections, many far more opportunistic than Abaribe’s.
Yet it is his case that has triggered emergency Senate sessions and fiery declarations. One cannot help but smell the hand of powerful interests who find Abaribe’s independence inconvenient — especially as he aligns with the emerging ADC platform that many believe could reshape opposition politics ahead of 2027.
APGA Abia’s repeated “hammering” on Abaribe long before the March defection announcement only underscores the point: this was never a harmonious relationship. The party had moved on from him, and he from it. Pretending otherwise now is retrospective theatre.
Senator Abaribe’s defiance is not mere stubbornness; it is a necessary pushback against the dangerous precedent that parties can weaponise internal discipline to hold elected representatives hostage.
Nigerian democracy will be the poorer if lawmakers are reduced to errand boys who must choose between political castration and losing their mandate.
The Senate should tread carefully. Declaring Abaribe’s seat vacant on these facts would not uphold the Constitution — it would twist it into an instrument of political vengeance. In the end, the people of Abia South, not party executives in Umuahia, should be the final arbiters of his fate.
Abaribe may have left APGA, but he has not left the people. And in Nigerian politics, that distinction still matters.
