CROSS-CARPETING: A Challenge To Nigeria's Democracy

By Ezinwanne Onwuka

A generally accepted definition of a political party is that it is an organized group of people with similar political aims and opinions that seek to influence public policy by getting its candidate elected to public office. Political parties are important institutions for developing policies and platforms and providing critical oversight and accountability of government action. Through their elected representatives, political parties implement policies that reflect the ideology of the party. However, this is not the case in Nigeria. Changing from one political party to another is common and seen as a way of gaining an advantage over other political parties.

Nigeria face a major and persistence problem: incessant cross-carpeting among elected political actors which tend to impede the democratic process. Cross-carpeting, otherwise known as party defection (I will be using the two terms interchangeably) is a situation where politicians cross from one political party to the other due to myriad of reasons such as personality clash, power tussles, crisis or division within a given party, disagreement on party's position on an issue, realization of one's personal political ambition, and divergent views on the operations of a political party's philosophy or ideology. 

In other words, party defection is any situation in which a member of a legislature who had been elected on a certain party platform changes his political allegiance before or after a general election. In this regard, 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 wellbeing of the society and political development of the country.

Cross-carpeting have become the underlying attribute of party politics in this present democratic dispensation and have become frequent toward and after election periods. To be certain, the word “cross-carpeting” does not exist in the English language. It was, however, coined to describe a common phenomenon by which politicians, almost unashamedly, switch political allegiance just to achieve their own personal political goals.

One of the challenges to the sustainability of democracy and the evolution of a robust political system and process in Nigeria is the gale of party defections in the country. Developed democracies like the United States, Germany, France and United Kingdom have politicians with over 3 decades of experience in politics without wavering in party affiliations and ideologies. However, in the Nigerian context, a politician will defect from one political party to another, when his or her political interest is no longer guaranteed.

In 1951, the first known case of cross-carpeting occurred in Nigeria which robbed Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe the chance to become the Premier of the Western Region. This happens to be the most celebrated cross carpet episode in Nigeria. Yoruba members of the National Council for Nigerian and the Cameroon (NCNC) were lobbied to cross over to the Action Group (AG) to stop Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo man, from becoming the premier of Western Region. This heralded the massive cross over to the AG. As the leader of the NCNC, Azikiwe was to be the Premier of Western Nigeria following the elections of 1951 with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a Yoruba man and the leader of Action Group, as the leader of the opposition in the Regional House of Assembly. The NCNC won 42 seats out of 80, but within 24 hours, 20 of them had cross-carpeted to AG.

While President Muhammadu Buhari was never a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), he did move between various political parties in his quest to become the number one citizen of Nigeria. In 2003 and 2007, he contested for president as the candidate of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP). In 2011, he was the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which he founded. In 2015, he contested under the umbrella of the APC and won.

The political calculation in the country took a dramatic turn by 2013 with the formation of the All Progressive Congress (APC) through the merging of four political parties - Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) - formed just to garner more supporters over the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the build up to the 2015 general elections. This development led to the defection of five former PDP governors: Murtal Nyako (Adamawa), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wammako, (Sokoto) and Chibuike Amechi (Rivers), to the APC ahead of the 2015 general elections. Also to cross-carpet to the APC is the governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, from the All Progressive Grand Alliance and the PDP senators: Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara Central), Umaru Dahiru (Sokoto South), Magnus Ngei (Rivers South), Wilson Asinobi (Rivers West), Bindawa Muhammed (Gombe Central), Aisha Jummai (Taraba North), Mohammed Ali (Borno South), Mohammed Shaba (Kwara North), Abdulahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) and Ibrahim Abdullahi (Sokoto East), as well as thirty-seven members of the House of Representatives who cross-carpeted from PDP to APC.

Moreover, with the mantle of political power turning to the APC after the 2019 general elections, politicians continue to defect to the party in a bid to further their political career. Unlike other parts of the world where politicians defect for ideological reasons, politicians in Nigeria defect mostly for selfish ends. All they are concerned with is simply associating with those with whom their personal political objective stand a better chance of being achieved. The series of indiscriminate party defection is such that Nigerian politicians defect from their political parties to another party only to leave that other party for yet other parties before eventually returning ‘home’ to their original political party.

One reason for the occurrence and prevalence of party defection in Nigeria is the nature of party formation. Party formation in Nigeria is often driven by political careerism rather than ideology. Personal ambition and ethnic loyalty, as opposed to social and economic issues, tend to drive Nigeria's political parties. The deprivation that opposition politics might engender often make it unwise for politicians to remain in opposition parties. This is perhaps so because the party in power often discriminates against the opposition. Thus, owing to the winner-takes-all nature of Nigerian politics, political opponents usually had to choose between crossing the carpet to join the ruling party or suffer exclusion, repression and lack of access to resources.

Cross-carpeting no doubt has telling effects on the process of consolidating democracy, especially when it affects state and federal elected political office holders. This trend is fast making caricature of democracy in the Fourth Republic and seriously belittles the spirit of opposition parties. This often breeds the emergence of new political parties that lack strength and focus to compete reasonably in the polity. In other words, incessant cross-carpeting weakens opposition parties which have a telling effect on democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Furthermore, it tends to promote money-bag politics rather than ideological oriented political parties. According to the News Magazine of February 2014, a ‘‘mouth-watering'' offer of money were outlined for the legislators that cross-carpeted to the APC in the build up to 2015 general elections. According to the same report, the then ruling PDP was said to have promised $2 million to each senator who returns to the PDP, $1 million to each member of the House of Representatives and $10 million to each ‘leader' who abandoned the APC for the PDP. Although, this is considered a rumour in some quarters, one cannot completely dispel issues like this in any polity that is not ideologically driven, where possession of political power is viewed directly as economic empowerment.

Indiscriminate party defection have become the hall mark of Nigerian politics. A pre-requisite to curtail the incessant party defection is to de-emphasize the excessive premium placed on political power. When politics becomes less lucrative, ideology will begin to gain popularity across the polity. This will keep political practitioners back on the track and guide against incessant party defections.

Ezinwanne Onwuka writes from Cross River state, Nigeria. She is a Corp Member serving in Cross River state. She writes informative, creative and research-driven contents on topics about life, politics, religion and more. You can reach her on ezinwanne.dominion@gmail.com and +2348164505628.