By Ebere Agozie
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, JB Daudu (SAN) has condemned the gravitation towards a one-party state and practice of cross-carpeting by Nigerian politicians, describing it as unethical and should be banned.
Daudu, the Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation said this at the 13th Webinar series organized by the foundation on Tuesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the webinar had the theme `Overview and Mid-Term Report of The Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (May2023-May 2025)’.
“We should speak up when elected officials on a specific political platform wander away from the platform that elected them and gravitate, for personal and selfish political and indeed commercial gains, to another political platform.
This other political party usually has neither sponsored them nor promoted their political progress.
“The problem is that our constitution did not specifically outlaw the despicable act of cross-carpeting from one party to another.
“Sadly, it will be a tall order to request beneficiaries of the massive cross-carpeting going on to champion the abrogation of the present kind of political chicanery that we are presently witnessing.
“But we hereby recommend an absolute ban on cross-carpeting. The will of the people and their verdict at elections must be sustained throughout the period of the tenure of such an election.
“Gravitation, whether by design or by happenstance, to a one-party state must be resisted.
“Our constitution is designed, and expects, our country to be governed through a multi-party democracy, and in any case, one party state is selfish, evil and counter-productive.
“We must take a detour from that route. When the centripetal and centrifugal forces in a one-party system eventually explode, things would have fallen apart. A word, the say, is enough for the wise.
“We must make sacrifices of not being corrupt, of not engaging in people exploitative schemes such as ‘outright corruption’, ‘budget padding’ ‘siphoning of money from public treasury’ and other corrupt practices.
“We need to agree, both leaders and followers to drop our corrupt tendencies. If we do not, we will continue to get the results that we are witnessing, which is a swift decent to the abyss of destruction and nothingness”.
Daudu frowned at the kind of politics being played in Nigeria saying that politicians are practicing democracy in an upside-down manner.
He said politics and the vehicle that transports it, which is democracy, is not only a sacred trust but a solemn responsibility to administer and cater for the social, economic and political needs of the people.
“But can we actually or realistically be said to be practising democracy? The taste of the pudding is in the eating.
“The proper practice of democracy brings social and economic progress. It brings development and stability, aside from attracting investments and tourism.
“However, Nigerians have realised that politics is big business wherein millions and billions of ‘Naira’ or even ‘Dollars’ can be emptied or siphoned from the system into personal accounts.
“The irony of it is that those doing the siphoning will keep a straight face and even blame the people who are meant to be beneficiaries of these resources’’.
He reiterated that democracy cannot survive in any system that the guardians of the sacred trust of leadership do not observe the basic rules such as the constitution, statutes and laws flowing therefrom.
He said that they hardly even respect their own political party constitutions.
“True or real democracy can only survive where the leadership of the country observes its own rules or at least keeps within the boundaries of civilized politicking.
“We are now in an era of ‘anything goes’ in the practice of our own brand of democracy. Examples abound and the people must speak out and indeed resist when one or more of the forgoing events begin to happen.
