Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State on Monday urged the courts to properly address the status of political office holders, who defect to other political parties, stating that this would help restore sanity to the political arena.
Aliyu said this in Minna after receiving the 2014 Hajj Report from the leader of the state delegation to Saudi Arabia, Prof. Sheikh Abdallah.
“We need morality in politics. We need the courts to properly interprete the section of the constitution on defection. I believe that you cannot go to another party with the mandate given to you by a political party.
“If you are dissatisfied with what is going on in your party and you an elected politician, resign your position before joining another political party, otherwise, the public will see politicians as people who should not be respected”, he said.
The governor also submitted that defectors to other political parties had betrayed the electorate because they were not originally elected on the platform of the party which they had defected to.
He, therefore, advised potential voters in next month’s general elections to critically view those politicians that had left their original parties and vote them out in the elections to show that voters could not be taken for granted any more.
“In Niger State, I suggest to the electorate to punish immoral politicians by defeating them at the polls”, he added.
The governor also commended the Hajj committee for ensuring a hitch-free hajj in 2014 and prayed that the next committee would build on the gains of the 2014 team.