THE TIDE OF CROSS CARPETING IN NIGERIA, AND HOW IT UNDERMINES OUR DEMOCRACY.

One undoubted essence a “Two party” or “Multi-party” system stands to earn a country is the leeway an opposition party has to halt or checkmate the excesses of a ruling party, but that’s not the case right now in Nigeria.

Just last week when our new president-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, an APC presidential candidate was pronounced winner of the presidential election held March 28, we’ve so far had scores of PDP members who have defected to the ‘All Progressive Congress’.

Meanwhile its no longer news that the APC will completely take the reins of power in Nigeria on the 29th Day of May 2015, and the roadtrip to this unusual transition has seen myriad of PDP loyalists broke their allegiance with PDP to move to a now formidable one which is APC.

One singular blinker this aweful phenomenon is even causing me right now is my failure to understand the intends backing their defection. And I doubt it if they’re really defecting based on the interests of the electorates.

Incident to this has many social commentators claimed their defection is solely based on their own personal interests, then to still see themselves continually dwell under the umbrella of power.

And one thing they fail to understand is that without opposition party in Government, the ruling one could fail in her delivery of good governance, because the opposition party is a watchdog that can check & curtail the excesses of the ruling party.

One practical example is the government of the U.S and the U.K- Both of which run a two-party system. While the former has “The Democratic Party and The Republican Party” then the later has “The labor Party and The conservative Party”.

This distinct pairs from this respective countries have had to a far-reaching length cause both countries a great deal of wellness in their respective ways of governance, and even in the U.S currently which is a country that runs true federalism like we claim to be running here in Nigeria even has the opposition party to an appreciable length stronger than the ruling party.

And the presidency of the U.S is still being alternated between the two parties in recent time with so many purple states that are still in existence.

Which means president Obama who’s a democrat cannot wake up one day & make a decision that’s sacrosanct and still expect it to be definitive. No it doesn’t work like that in America.

This system is not peculiar to America alone but to so many nations of the world who appreciate what true federalism, two-party or multi-party system means to the progress of a country.

So pluralizing the numbers of a particular political party in a country through defection will never in any way contribute to national development not even in a country like Nigeria where things are getting more deteriorating by the day.

Because if you remember vividly well when OBJ assumed presidency in 1999, under the platform of the PDP, you should notice one thing that apart from PDP being the ruling party, they still own the majority seats in both legislative houses, meaning they’ve been at the helm of leadership for 15yrs or thereabout.

Reason of which they’ve been very high-handed, dictatorial in most of the decisions they make because they know that there’s no opposition watchdogs checking and halting their excesses, but thank God for the wind of change this present alternation has caused us all.

If our selfish politicians think that the benefits of the generality of the populace is what they stand for, hence they should hold their grounds in whichever party they are then fight to the finish line.

Because defectors are defeatists most time.

May God bless Nigeria?

**exclusive to idriftonline**