WILBERFORCE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (WJSS)
ISSN: 2504 – 9232
Volume 3, No. 1, March 2018
Pages 110-127
DOI: 10.36108/wjss/8102.30.0170
PARTY NOMADISM IN NIGERIA: ASSESSING THE ROLE OF PARTY DEFECTIONS IN NIGERIAN POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT, 2011-2016 STATE
AFAMEFUNE PATRICK IKEM & OGHALEBLESSING EDAFE
Abstract
The defection of politicians from one political party to another in Nigeria has attracted enormous scholarly attention in recent times. Arguably, the emergence of several political parties without ideological colouration has embellished the debate on political parties’ defection in Nigeria. This paper assesses the role of party defections in Nigeria’s political development between 2011 to 2016. This paper adopts documentary method of data collection and content analysis as the method of data analysis. Relying on the theory of post-colonial state, the paper argues that party defection is not necessarily as a result of the absence of political ideology; rather, it is the manifestation of an ideology rooted in the crass ambition for power, primitive accumulation and elevation of personal differences. Moreover, this negates and discourages viable political culture, institution building and national integration in Nigeria. It recommends, among others, that institutional frameworks should be enacted to make politics less attractive.
Keywords: Nomadism, Party, Ideology, Constitution, Power