ByEjuchegahi Angwaomaodoko
The writing on the wall is bold, needing no interpretation. Nigeria’s gradual slide from a multi-party democracy to a one-party system is as visible as daylight. The rush of defections by prominent political figures into the ruling All Progressives Congress, particularly between 2023 and 2026, alongside the apparent decline of major opposition parties like the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party, are troubling evidence. There have been more gales of defections than ever before across the country and at all levels. The ongoing defections are a political development worryingly different from routine politics.
Never has Nigeria witnessed the current spate of opportunistic defections. As can be seen, there is a steady build-up of political power around or within the APC, under a tent of superfluous reasons. The broom-party, at the time of this piece, possesses no fewer than 31 of the 36 state governors. Hanging by a thin thread, the once-formidable PDP barely has one governor in Oyo State. Others, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Labour Party, and Accord Party, by a slim margin, have governors in Anambra, Abia, and Osun states, respectively. Although there are other political parties in the country, there has been a strong consolidation of the APC towards winning the next general election.
These unfolding occurrences expose the magnitude of the country’s gradual slide into a one-party state. Many governors, senators, representatives’ members, and grassroots politicians have strayed from their original political platforms, all in the name of seeking political safety. A review of the reasons shows that the main triggers for today’s defections are political survival, access to state patronage, proximity to federal power, and the fear of being isolated in a system where the commonwealth is often concentrated around the ruling party. A typical winner-takes-all system.
Viewed from a historical lens, Nigeria’s multiparty system did not suddenly fall into its present-day trajectory. Since the inception of the Fourth Republic, elected officials have normalised switching parties in the country without consequence. Attuned to Nigeria’s constitution, defection is not without some sorts of consequences. The 1999 Constitution, for instance, prescribes forfeiture of seats for parliamentarians at the federal or state level who defect to other parties. Although the constitution appears silent on the status of members of the executive who change political vehicles, it is clear that the law does not endorse defection.
The law, however, reserves some caveats. The 1999 constitution permits defection where a sponsoring political party is in crisis.
Specifically, where a party has split into factions, or where it becomes part of a merger involving two or more parties or factions. Over time, this provision has functioned less as a safeguard but more as a loophole, routinely exploited to justify politically convenient defections. It has also evolved into a tool of partisan strategy, with parties accused of stoking or exploiting internal divisions within rival groups to weaken them from within. Such may be the depleting fate of parties such as the PDP and the Labour Party.
The PDP, a long-time sceptre-wielding party, dominated Nigeria’s political landscape from 1999. Its website and historical check speak to how the party was formed to counter the arbitrariness of the military government and the fracturing parties of the Third Republic. For 16 years, the umbrella-party towered. It held the reins of power in the country. Under its watch, opposition groups like the CPC, ACN, ANPP, and APGA, among others, during the period struggled for relevance. With easy victory at the polls seeming distant, party alliances gained momentum and smaller parties merged to form a stronger bloc. It was through this process that the now-prominent APC emerged. The merger birthed what seemed at the time to be a formidable opposition, which eventually proved to be the nemesis of the then-ruling party.
The then opposition, APC today, garnered support through strategic political action, riding on waves of public outrage and apprehension. The PDP would not have anticipated a bleak future. When the PDP finally lost its hold on power, the new ruling party’s focus shifted to consolidating its new dominance. This, in practice, meant the systematic weakening of opposing forces. It is therefore no surprise that, less than two decades later, the once-formidable umbrella party now struggles between survival and near annihilation. It is also recognisable that today’s APC’s strong dominance does not make it an exemplary party. The party’s incompetence to eradicate insecurity, multidimensional poverty and a host of typical Nigerian needs does not hide the character of the ruling party politicians.
Recognising that political parties are indispensable to democracy, Nigerians must realise and must be able to identify political platforms whose visions are genuine and not merely a hideout for political jobbers. Nigerians must understand the keys to what makes a responsible political party: effective internal structures and conscious membership. Structures would refer to the internal framework of a party, which, in reality, defines it. These include party ideology and internal democracy. Members, on the other hand, are individuals who embrace that ideology and become part and parcel of its internal processes. Remove the members, and there is no party to speak of. Undermine the structures, and the party becomes a sinking ship. When consequences for political defection are removed through mechanisms that create seemingly legitimate avenues for switching parties, the result can be as uncontrollable and destructive as a harmattan fire on the loose.
News reports indicate that party infiltrations, particularly by agents of the ruling APC, have become rampant and an acclaimed reason for opposition parties’ distress. The Labour Party, for example, in September 2025, through its interim National Publicity Secretary, Tony Akeni, accused the APC of attempting to infiltrate its ranks to derail its congress. Similarly, in October 2025, the national leadership of the African Democratic Congress raised the alarm over infiltrations across its branches, pledging to remain focused on achieving its vision. The PDP, meanwhile, has endlessly battled internal divisions and frictions, with the latest being a split between its two prominent figures, Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
The PDP’s crisis evidently shows similar signs of infiltration. First, the party’s internal strife is so severe that it currently acts as a ploy to distract from party building. At the centre of this brouhaha is the biggest chess piece: a minister who claims PDP membership but works with the rival ruling party, the APC. The FCT minister’s action of pledging support to a rival political party while insisting on his membership in the PDP party undermines cohesion. Unfortunately, figures like Wike are so deeply entrenched in the PDP that removing them would rattle the party’s structure like a ship in turbulent waters. This internal division, coupled with glittery invitations by the APC, tells of the country’s dangerous drift into a one-party system.
The political landscape cannot be delinked from the fact that most parties in Nigeria are not built around ideologies. Instead, they revolve around personalities and with an ambitious focus on securing positions of power. It is why politicians pay little attention to principles when choosing a party, opting instead for platforms that best nurture their ambitions. It also explains why defections are so easy. Politicians treat party platforms as stepping stones to advance personal goals, while parties exploit these ambitions to generate funds, inflate forms to exorbitant prices, and rely on politicians’ electoral victories to mask their lack of coherent ideology. Hence, politicians defect without fail, citing “safety,” “collapsed party structures,” or “ostracisation.” Meanwhile, the real story remains that defection lies at the intersection of power and personal interest. Politicians switch allegiances to improve their chances of winning and to align themselves with a bigger, stronger party. Not for the people’s sake or their welfare.
Ahead of the 2027 elections, Nigeria’s political landscape is rife with defections, many driven by both political and economic power, with allegations of party loyalty being sold and bought. As opposition weakens and the ruling party strengthens its dominance, the country risks sliding into a one-party trap. The situation is particularly concerning because, constitutionally, Nigeria is a multiparty state. One-party dominance of the political arena would leave voters with limited or no meaningful choice. In the Nigerian case, this could force the electorate to endorse a single party repeatedly, not for its ideology. At the losing end are the people, for whom this is more than a game. For whom it is about daily survival, about futures being mortgaged and lives left uncertain.
For the sake of those to whom the polity belongs – the people – we must offer solutions to the current political crisis. It is essential to introduce both electoral and party reforms. Electoral reforms that would ensure a more rigorous process for selecting leadership, while party reforms would broaden the options available to the electorate. Without restructuring political parties, the country risks sliding into a de facto one-party state, with a single party dominating the people. Hence, parties must be organised in a manner that prioritises ideology above personal ambition and power. Also, the bane of defection must be removed. It is not enough to make provisions for parliamentarians’ defection. The constitution must be amended to expressly rule on defection for members of the executive. It is only fitting for a sitting governor, president or their vice to continue with the party that sponsored them into power. Failure to do so should mean forfeiture of seats.
Nigerians have the ultimate mandate to save the country. The nation should not drift into a linear political party path while its consequences look us in the face. Many political parties are not grounded in public-centric ideas, and that needs to change. Parties that only reappear during election seasons need to rethink their engagement, and the public should remain committed to creating alternatives. Often, it is the lack of conscious organisation among the rank and file of the Nigerian people, and the absence of political parties with aspirations centred on the people’s needs, that pave the easiest way to one-party authoritarianism.
Ejuchegahi Angwaomaodoko, the founder of Ejuchegahi Angwa Foundation and a scholar at Kean University, the United States, writes via [email protected]
