By Ebere Agozie

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), JB Daudu, has condemned the incessant carpet-crossing by elected political office holders in the country.

He described such act as unethical and capable of resulting to one-party state.

Daudu, the Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation said this at the 13th Webinar series organised by the Foundation on Tuesday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the webinar had as its theme: `Overview and Mid-Term Report of The Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (May 2023-May 2025)’.

“We should speak up when elected officials from 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.

“The problem is that our constitution did not specifically outlaw the 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,” he said.

He, therefore, recommended an absolute ban on cross-carpeting, saying the will of the people and their verdict at elections should be sustained throughout the tenure of such an election.

“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,” he said.

He said that Nigerians must be deliberate in the fight against corruption, adding that it must be a collective effort.

“If we do not, we will continue to get the results that we are witnessing, which is a swift descent to the abyss of destruction and nothingness,” the senior lawyer said.

According to him, Nigerians have realised that politics is big business where millions and billions of ‘naira’ or even ‘dollars’ can be 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.

“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 civilised 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,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Uche Anunne