Former National Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mark Jacob, has called on Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, to vacate his position for allegedly ceasing to belong to any political party.
Jacob made the remark on Tuesday during an interview on ARISE News, following growing speculation that the Bayelsa governor had resigned from the PDP.
Diri had recently declared his resignation from the opposition party “for obvious reasons,” according to a report by PUNCH Online. However, he did not provide details about his grievances or reasons for leaving.
Although the governor has yet to make an official announcement, there are reports suggesting he may defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), following the example of his Enugu State counterpart, Peter Mbah.
His uncertain political status has since sparked debate over the constitutionality of his continued stay in office.
Jacob maintained that Diri’s situation is unconstitutional, stressing that “occupying that office without a political party is completely illegal.”
“Without the PDP, Governor Diri would not have contested the election at all. The people of Bayelsa have the right to question his continued occupation of that office because they are the ones who voted. If their governor is now without a political party, he ought to vacate that seat,” Jacob said.
The former PDP official blamed the situation on weak constitutional provisions and judicial passivity, which he said allow politicians to defect without consequences.
“Institutions are being rubbished by politicians, and the courts appear helpless because the wordings in the Constitution make it possible for candidates to dump their political parties and go elsewhere without repercussion,” he lamented.
He further explained that while the Constitution mandates lawmakers to vacate their seats upon defection without a valid reason, the judiciary often fails to enforce this clause.
“If you defect without such a condition, you vacate your seat. But even at that, with that provision, the courts have been very unwilling to put their foot down and make that provision functional.
“We have a situation where politicians are enjoying themselves. They run to this market today and run to the other one tomorrow, and nothing appears to happen. Nobody seems to be in a position to control the political class anymore. They can do as they wish, and nothing will happen,” he said.
Jacob added that this lack of accountability has reduced political parties to “mere vehicles for power” rather than ideological institutions.
“Politicians move freely from one party to another without consequence. Nobody seems able to control the political class anymore,” he said.
He warned that such behavior threatens Nigeria’s democratic values and accountability, saying it has allowed some politicians to become “bigger than political parties, bigger than the courts, and even bigger than INEC,” describing them as “warlords” who operate without checks or consequences.
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