CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Nigerian constitution since independence spanning through 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the present 4th Republic, has always made provisions for a multi political party system as regards the seeking for, and the maintenance of political power via executive and legislative positions. This singular factor has led to the existence of a plethora of registered political parties within the polity, including the ones that seem serious and the visibly unserious ones. This trend has become highly boosted since the nativity of the 4th Republic, as the last 2011 general elections saw more than 60 political parties jostling for different executive and legislative positions within the polity (I.N.E.C:2011). The above feature has provided for Nigerian political players, an avalanche of options in terms of political parties to identify with during any electoral process, whether at the local, state or national level.

Over the years, defection from one political party to another by Nigerian politicians has been a major issue in the discourse of the country‟s politics. This is due to the flagrant manner in which these political players jump boat at will. The cases of Ikedi Ohakim and Theodore Orji who were both elected executive governors of Imo and Abia States respectively, on the platform of the Progressive People‟s Alliance (PPA) during the 2007 elections but defected

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months later upon assumption of office, to the People‟s Democratic Party (PDP) is a good example that buttresses the above point. In fact, it was even reported that Governor Theodore Orji en route PDP, had a brief stopover and political romance with the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) before settling with the former (Akinola: 2010).

One obvious fact is that in all these defections and cross carpeting, opposition parties are always the ones who suffer for the attitude of these politicians. The worst hit political party especially in the north has been the All Nigerian Peoples Parties (ANPP) with most of her elected governors and lawmakers including; Saminu Turaki of Jigawa State, Aliyu Shinkafi of Zamfara State, Adamu Aliero of Kebbi State, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State, etc. defecting to the PDP. In the South/West, the story remains the same though the self-acclaimed largest political party in Africa became the victim this time, for recent happenings in the region reveals an exodus of politicians from PDP to the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) who presently controls 5, out of the 6 states within the region. The PDP‟s hold in the South/South has been quite strong and has ensured that no opposition party wrestles power from her within the region as she controls 5 of the 6 states of the region (Baiyewu: 2012).

However, the ACN in Edo State through Governor Adams Oshiomhole, has recently weakened the apparatus of the PDP within the state which has also made the PDP lose some of her greatest political assets within the state to the

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ACN. Such individuals include Patrick Obahiagbon (current Chief of Staff to the Edo state government but former PDP stalwart at the National Assembly), Prof. Julius Ihonvbere (former presidential adviser on Program and Policy Monitoring under the Obasanjo-led PDP government, but currently the Secretary to the Edo State Government), Lucy Omagbon (former PDP women leader in Edo State but currently an ACN chairmanship candidate for Ovia North-East Local Government) etc (Ahanor 2012). From the above, one could describe the Nigerian polity, as one whereby „‟fair weather principle‟‟ reigns supreme.

It is however pertinent to point out, that the issue of political party defection in Nigeria had not been peculiar to only the 4th Republic except that it seemed to have taken a wild turn in this Republic. Carpet crossing by Nigerian politicians is not a new phenomenon but one that has been with us as a nation since the First Republic and even before independence. The first recorded incidence of carpet crossing was in 1951 in the defunct Western Region House of Assembly when several members of the defunct National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) decamped overnight to the old Action Group (AG) of chief Obafemi Awolowo to deny Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe the then leader of NCNC, the majority he needed to direct the affairs of the House. Other high profile defections of the past republics include those of; Chief Akin Omoboriowo (UPN to NPN), Senator Lai Joseph (UPN to NPN), Senator N.N Anah (NPP to NPN) etc (Adewale: 2009).