Defection in politics means movement of a person from one party to another party. It means changing party allegiance from the party on which a person got elected, to different party. Defection happens when an elected officer, either a President, Governor, legislator or anyone elected from a particular party leaves the party and joins another party.
Political defection occurred for the first time in Nigeria in 1951. That was when 20 members of the then National Congress of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) led by Chief Nnamdi Azikwe defected to the Action Group (AG) led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, thereby paving way for Chief Obafemi Awolowo to become premier of the then western region.
Subsequently in the second Republic, there were some political defections including those of Akin Omoboriowo, Sunday Afolabi and Busari Adelakun, aka Eruobodo and others of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), who all defected to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
There were also defections of the former Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and then member of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Sule Lamido. They defected from Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) to the second Republic’s Nnamdi Azikwe’s party, the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP).
The current dispensation, effective from 1999 to date witnesses the most prevalence political defections. Prelude to 2015 general election, virtually the whole hierarchy of the then ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),who has been in power since the inception of the fourth republic in 1999, defected to the newly formed All Progressive Congress (APC). At the National level, between 2003 and 2019,a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Action Congress (AC), subsequently to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and back to PDP!
The gale of defections increased in 2025 with Ned Nwoko, a senator representing Delta North who had been a longtime member of PDP dumped the party for APC. Shehu Sani, former Kaduna Senator and an activist also dumped PDP for APC in February, 2025.
On May 7, 2025, it was reported that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate of PDP during the 2023 general election, Ifeanyi Okowa and the entire leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State officially defected to All Progressive Congress (APC). The mass defection which includes sitting office holders, party executives, and grass root organizers was announced following a high level meeting in Asaba that is being touted as a move for ‘political alignment for development and stability’.
On May 8, 2025, three members of the House of representatives from Katsina State, Abubakar Aluju, Yusuf Majigiri and Abdullahi Balarabe defected from PDP to APC. The following day, May 9, 2025 all the three serving senators elected on the ticket of PDP from Kebbi State, Adamu Aliero, Yahaya Abubakar Abdullahi and Garba Maidoki announced their intention to join APC after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa. It has eventually become a reality.
Earlier on May 15, 2025 three members of the House of Representatives joined APC. They are Kabiru Hassan Rumrum from (NNPP) Kano, Oluwole Oke (PDP) Osun and Sani Abdullahi (NNPP) Kano.
One keeps wondering the role of political ideology in the conducts of politicians, particularly, when issues like defections arises. A political ideology is a system of related beliefs and ideas about how Society should be organized and governed. It offers a vision of an ideal society and the methods for achieving it, encompassing various aspects like the economy, government and social policies. Political ideologies are complex and diverse, and often evolve over time in response to changing social and economic conditions. They are fundamental part of political life and help to shape how societies are organized and governed.
Examples of political ideologies are Liberalism, which values individual rights and freedoms, limited government and social justice. Conservatism values tradition, established institutions and a more cautious approach to social and economic change. Socialism advocates for more equitable distribution of wealth and resources often through collective ownership or government control of key industries; while Communism is a more radical form of socialism that envisions a classless society with communual ownership of al resources and Fascism, a nationalist ideology that emphasizes authoritarian rule, centralized control and often racial and ethnic supremacy.
Political ideologies are significant to actualization of a vibrant and virile political culture. Political ideologies provide a framework for understanding the political world by helping individuals and groups make sense of political events, policies and social issues. It justifies political actions and policies by providing a rationale for why certain actions are taken or certain policies are implemented. It also motivates political participation through inspiring people to engage in politics, activism and/or social movements, and influences how political issues are framed and discussed in public.
From aforementioned, an ideological party can be explained as a group of people who are committed to a different cause other than the mainstream political parties. The main characteristics of an ideological party are that they all support the same cause, they want to win support for their cause and they seek to gain power for their group through political campaigning. They would rather gain more attention and support for their cause than win an election! Even though, they are usually smaller than the dominant parties, they always fulfill their purpose of gaining enough support for their cause to make positive changes.
Defection, pejoratively also applies to anyone who switches loyalty to another religion, sports, team, political party or other rival faction, hence, the defector is always considered a traitor by the other side. One of the challenges of democracy sustainability in Nigeria is the gale of defections, which regrettably has led to a lean political base that are consistent in the political philosophies beliefs, values and convictions. There are notable
Reasons why politicians defects in Nigeria. Prominent among these is lack of political ideology which is a significant vehicle of a political party. The dearth of political ideologies in parties and the lack of political philosophies on the part of the politicians leads them to jump from one party to another. The poverty of ideology has continue to affect the post second republic Nigerian democratic system. During the second republic, virtually all political parties and their leaders could be linked with one political ideology or another.
Another reason is political interest. Political interest leads people to weigh ideological positions, to access their pros and cons, and finally to make a commitment and achieve political identity. Without political interest, political identity stays diffuse, not knowing what to think, what to believe, not knowing where one’s own commitments are. That is why politicians in Nigeria will defect from one political party to another, when his or her political interest is no longer guaranteed.
Lack of trust in party hierarchy is another reason for political defections. It is always difficult to show complete loyalty in a party when the leadership cannot be relied upon or trusted. Most of the major political parties in Nigeria today are being confronted with this problem which is a resultant effect of having leadership that is neither experienced nor meticulous. When there are issues and the leadership cannot resolve it, the ugly atmosphere lingers indefinitely. Members will definitely seek solace elsewhere. Politicians need to learn a lot from this and scrutinize the caliber of leadership they installed on the parties at all times.
Lack of internal cohesion that always lead to internal party divisions is one of the reasons why politicians defects. When a particular group feels sidelined, ostracized from political activities of a party they belong, they resort to defection to seek better opportunities.
Pursuits of political ambition or the desire to seek higher office is another reason for defections. This is caused mostly by imposition of candidates, one of the symbolic characteristics of god fatherism.
Political ambition or the desire to seek higher office is shown to develop as a product of the investment that politicians make in their political careers and the investments are shown to be associated with the structural characteristics of community size and electoral competitiveness. Political defections create a tendency towards a situation where the ruling party which produces the President, most of the state governors and majority of the legislators stifle opposition political parties and make them nominal and ineffective, thereby lacking the capacity to actively oppose unpopular public policies.
Political defections promotes corrupt practices as corrupt politicians from opposition political parties defects to the ruling party in other to escape legal action on the atrocities already perpetrated it also create instability in the party system due to fragmentation and factions within the parties.
While this defections could be likened to transfer galore of footballers in the league, it is also worthy of note that there is integrity in the league. League, just like in all professional sports, is crucial for maintaining fairness, trust and the overall appeal of the competition, which involves ethical standards, adhering to rules and combatting illegal activities like match fixing and corruption.
The current prevalence and frequency of political defections constitutes a cause for concern.
Gbemiga Bamidele, Ph.d is the Convener, Society for Journalism Enhancement Initiatives (S4JEI)
