Abstract:
The issue of party defection is becoming a serious threat to Nigeria’s democratic stability. It has always been the practice in Nigeria’s party democracy for people to defect to other parties with the intention to secure nominations from the party, and for a good number of them to return after elections to join the winning party to vie for positions in the government. The massive party defections by political gladiators in Nigeria were symbolic as it was the members of the ruling party that defected to opposition party and on a non election period. Against this backdrop, therefore, this study examined the political party defection and 2015 presidential election in Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Marxian theory of the Post-Colonial State, while relying on documentary method for the collection of data, which was correspondingly, analyzed using content analysis. The study found that political party defections enhanced the victory of the opposition party in the 2015 presidential election; also that lack of internal democracy was implicated in the political party defections in the 2015 presidential election. The high level of success of Nigeria’s 2015 general elections was unexpected, considering the difficult political and security environment in which the elections were conducted. The study recommendation, that, it is imperative that all activities and systems within parties should be guided by internal rules and procedures consistent with the expectations of party members and the legally established statutory organs; holding of democratic, periodic elections of party leaders, and a non-personalized leadership that willingly submits itself to these periodic elections. Thus, the question of life chairman, life patron, “automatic ticket or automatic second term” should never arise; internal debate of issues and democratized decision making; equal and open participation of all members in the decision making process in such a way that various interests are more or less equally represented; transparency and accountability in the administration of the parties; democratization of party funding, such that the party does not rely on a few wealthy individuals only for its financing, adoption of inclusive, democratic processes for the holding of party conventions, and the selection of the parties’ candidates for election, that is, the use of primaries.
