Prince Adewole Adebayo, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has dismissed insinuations in some quarters that Nigeria might be heading towards a one-party state following the wave of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Analysts are of the view that if nothing is urgently done to address the defections, Nigeria could possibly relapse into a one-party state.
Reacting, Adebayo assured that nothing of the sort would ever happen in Nigeria because, according to him, there is no single system of welfare, employment, or security.
He noted that there is no way the poor and the rich can exist in a coalition.
He said: “There is no single system of employment. There is no single system of security. The benefits of politics are flowing in the direction of politicians, and a welfare politician changing from party to party cannot say he is in the same coalition as the poor, who cannot pay their children’s school fees, who cannot sleep well at home, and who cannot keep a job.
“And if they have a job, the pay from that job cannot satisfy even one per cent of their needs. So, there cannot be a one-party state when this is not a welfare state—when it is a selfish accumulation of money for the few in the ruling class and the wretched people on the streets.”
Explaining further why Nigeria cannot turn into a one-party state, he drew the line between the rich and the poor, saying, “How can people who are standing in the rain waiting for a car to carry them be in a one-party system alongside those who are using multiple private jets paid for by the public? It is not possible.”
He noted that the massive defection of politicians to one party does not guarantee a one-party state; rather, what makes a one-party state, according to Adebayo, is when they decide that they do not need any other party outside the ruling party or when there is a ban on the registration of new parties.
“So, if all the governors go to one party, Nigeria will choose a new set of governors. If all the senators go to one party, Nigeria will choose another set of senators. So, defection to the ruling party does not make a one-party state. What makes a one-party state is when people think that they do not need any other party outside the ruling party, or when people are being forced by law not to create another party.
“In Nigeria, you can create as many parties as you want, but what is going to sustain a party is whether its members believe in it. And that is what we have been working on since we started leading the SDP—to make sure that only those who believe in the party join it. So, there cannot be a one-party state when our politics is not based on a single set of ideas, because everyone will form a party based on the ideas they are pursuing.”
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then