Party Defection and Sustenance of Nigerian Democracy

Abstract

It has always been the practice in Nigeria's unstable party democracy for people to defect to other parties with the intention to secure nominations from the party, and for a good number of them to return after elections to join the winning party to vie for positions in the government. The recent massive party defections by political gladiators in Nigeria were symbolic as it was the members of the ruling party that defected to opposition party and on a non election period. This paper examined the implications of this on democracy in Nigeria. It observed that this particular defection would help build strong opposition that would create a balance in the country's democracy by checking the excesses of the ruling party at any time. It also noted that party defections are integral part of democratic processes. However, it argued that since the present defections are not driven by fundamental ideological consideration, there is still a tendency that the opposition would still crumble in no distant time especially if the motive (which is to stop the incumbent president) is not achieved or even after the struggle as the bond cannot be strong outside ideology. The paper relied on content analysis and adopted abstractions from elite theory. It observed that lack of ideology and internal party democracy appears to have ignited the prevailing squabbles that orchestrated the recent exodus. The paper recommended social re-engineering, reorientation and mobilization that is directed towards inculcation of new values and the essence of entrenching acceptable philosophy in Nigeria's party system.