National Assembly and the Issue of Party Defection in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain why Nigerian politicians defect from one political party to another
- To ascertain the effects of political party defections on Nigeria democracy
- To make recommendations on ways to check inter-party defections
- To ascertain the effect of party defection on national assembly
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptualizing Party Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is viewed illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, it includes forsaking a person, cause or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty. This term is also applied, often pejoratively, to anyone who switches loyalty to another religion, sports team, political party, or other rival faction. In that sense, the defector is often considered a traitor by their original side. In domestic politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. The term is sometimes used as a synonym for traitor, especially if the defector brings with him secrets or confidential information. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty. It is also the state of having rejected one’s political beliefs or your political party or a cause and often in favor of opposing political beliefs or causes. The term political party defection is also used to refer to the departure of a member from a political party to join another political party, typically because of discontent in his existing party. Depending on position of the person, it may be given a different name, such as party switching or crossing the floor. One famous political “defector” was Winston Churchill, who first entered Parliament as a Conservative in 1901, defected to the Liberals in 1904, and defected back to the Conservatives in 1925 (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2014). Political party defectors are usually regarded as political prostitutes without political principle, morality, conscience and lacking in political ideology to champion the cause of leadership for the well being of the society and political development of the country. Malthora, (2005), Aziken, (2009) Mba (2011) and Aleyomi (2013) adduce reason(s) for cross carpeting or defection of politicians, saying the trend result from personality clash, power tussles, divergent views on the operations of a political party’s philosophy, crisis or division within a given political party, disagreement on party’s position on an issue, realisation of one’s personal political ambition and party leaders reneging on agreed issues of the political party probably on power sharing formula. From the above thesis, politics defection refers to one’s abandonment of his/her preview position or association, offers to join an opposition or ruling group or party over the issue of political ideology, manifesto or program and party administration. However, from 1999 to date many politicians at the local government, state and federal levels had consistently defected from one political party to another. Some did so abandoning the parties on whose platform they were elected, while others after losing elections found it the best option for them to cross carpet to other political party. Meanwhile, some past and incumbent senators, Governors, House of Representatives members, State legislators, council chairmen and councilors have abandoned their elected political party platform for other on the excuse of factional crisis or division within their political party. Expanding this thesis, Balarabe Musa, National Chairman, Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) while speaking recently to the News Agency of Nigeria said that defection of politicians from one party to another undermined the political development of Nigeria.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in constructing up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a massive population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the learn about sought to examine national assembly and the issue of party defection in Nigeria’s fourth republic.
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA
One hundred and sixty (160) questionnaires were distributed and one hundred and forty (133) were returned. This figure was the sample size. Out of the one hundred and thirty-three, only one hundred and twenty (120) were properly responded to. As a result, the researcher used one hundred and twenty for this study when more than 50% of the respondents agree to the questions, the answer is taken as valid for the purpose of this study. In analyzing the data, the approach that will be adopted is to find out the percentage and positive and negative answers to the question posed.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on national assembly and the issue of party defection in Nigeria’s fourth republic. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of national assembly and the issue of party defection in Nigeria’s fourth republic
Summary
This study was on national assembly and the issue of party defection in Nigeria’s fourth republic. Four objectives were raised which included: To ascertain why Nigerian politicians defect from one political party to another, to ascertain the effects of political party defections on Nigeria democracy, to make recommendations on ways to check inter-party defections and to ascertain the effect of party defection on national assembly. In line with these objectives, four research questions were formulated and answered. The total population for the study is 100 members of APC and 100 members of PDP in Kogi state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study.
Conclusion
The recent wave of defections in the National Assembly is product of cash and carry politics, as none of the two rival parties of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) is immune from the business. The perennial defections of politicians was not informed by the resolve to fight and protect the interest of the general public, but for their own personal interests. The golden days of politicians who politic on politics based on issues, ideology and principles no longer exist in the present democratic dispensation in Nigeria. The driving force is how to capture state power for private gains. In search of this is the great movement of politicians from one party to the other. This trend of cross carpeting shows that Nigerian politicians possess no democratic values, credentials and our political system is awash with professional politicians and “entrepreneurs” who are devoid of modern political ideology and issue driven politics. It is our candid opinion that for the purposes of deepening the practice of democracy in Nigeria, any elected politician that defects to another party should be made to stand down and seek reelection. The loopholes within our electoral system and constitution that allow this to happen must be amended to cage political party defections
Recommendation
Party members who have defected from one party to another should be barred from appointments as ministers, commissioners, members‟ of State or Federal established executive bodies, ambassadors, etc. If these could be done, politicians would be discouraged from cross carpeting
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