By Dr. Wale Tijani
Abidemi Adebamiwa’s recent article raises important questions about democracy and political defections. However, his conclusions rest more on assumption than on constitutional reality. While intellectual debate is welcome, it must remain grounded in law and political practice rather than speculative psychology.
The suggestion that current defections are “fear-induced” lacks evidentiary foundation. What exactly is the fear? Has any governor publicly alleged coercion? Has any court ruled that executive pressure is being applied? In the absence of proof, such framing risks creating a narrative unsupported by fact.
It is more plausible to describe the present movement across party lines as survival-driven. Politicians, by nature, respond to political currents, power configurations, and electoral calculations. This behavior is not new, nor is it unique to the current administration. It is a feature of political systems across democracies, including mature ones.
The Nigerian Constitution does not prohibit executive defections. Democracy protects freedom of association and political choice. As long as the law permits movement across parties, exercising that right cannot logically be framed as democratic decline.
The term “non-ideological defection” may be rhetorically attractive, but it has no constitutional basis. Political ideology in Nigeria has historically been fluid. To retroactively demand rigid ideological alignment imposes standards that have rarely defined our party system.
Democracy is endangered not by legal political movement, but by unconstitutional action. Not until anyone can present evidence of coercion or illegality, the present wave of defections remains a lawful exercise of political choice. Disagreement with its optics does not make it anti-democratic.
I rest my case!
Dr. Tijani is a school teacher and writes from Osogbo, Osun State
