The Center for Human Rights and Accountability Network (CHRAN) has condemned the recent defections of politicians in the opposition parties to the ruling political party in Nigeria
It describes such move as self-serving and a threat to the country’s democracy.
The Director of CHRAN, Otuekong Franklyn Isong, stated this at the weekend in Uyo during an Annual Public Lecture to mark the 2025 Democracy Day in Nigeria with the theme, ‘The Role of Opposition Political Parties in Deepening Democracy’.
Isong who noted that opposition political parties are necessary to safeguard democracy, called on Nigerians to resist the temptation of turning the country into a one-party state. He stressed that democracy cannot thrive if political parties are depleted, drained or silenced.
“While we in CHRAN are advocating for independent candidacy to further enrich our multi-party system and broaden voters choice, we observe that the current political trend of self-serving defections from opposition political parties to the ruling party, if not checked, pose a serious threat to our hard-earned democracy.
“If we must deepen our democracy, opposition political parties must not be depleted, drained or silenced. If we must grow our democracy, we must resist the temptation of turning the country into a one-party State. Opposition political parties are necessary to safeguard democracy,” Isong said.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to come up with people-oriented policies and programmes, urged him to operate differently from his predecessors.
“We urge him to do things differently from his predecessors-in-office. Let his policies and programmes be pro-Nigerians. I believe that Mr. President has good intentions for this country.
“He has demonstrated the capacity to provide good governance to Nigerians. He has the strength of character to make a good leader,” the CHRAN director stated.
Isong commended Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, for his achievements in two years, saying it speaks volumes for him and described his approach to governance as “bottom to top approach”.
“He is concentrating more on the downtrodden than the elites. He is paying pension promptly, and settling the backlogs of gratuities owed by successive administrations in the State.
“Under his watch, Akwa Ibom has remained one of the most peaceful States in the federation. The security agencies are being supported greatly by the Governor to carry out their responsibilities of crime fighting and crime prevention in the State.
“We appreciate and commend the concerted efforts of security agencies in the State for their relentless efforts to nip security challenges in the bud,” he stated.
In his keynote address, Prof. Aniekan Sampson Brown, Professor of Criminology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Uyo, called on opposition parties to rise up to their responsibility of scrutiny and accountability.
“If you have a position in the social division of labour, the behaviour you put up in relation to that position is called role. And so in the social division of labour of politics, you have a political party in government as the ruling party, and then others will pass for the opposition parties.
“What are the roles of opposition parties? A simple Google will lead us to this, that one role would have to be for scrutiny and accountability. It is not that when you lose the election, you go to Dubai.
“When another election cycle comes, you come with money and you bamboozle everybody who lose their way through and win again, after that you go back, no,” he stated.
