Cross-carpeting and democratic consolidation in Nigeria.
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Political science,Obafemi Awolowo University
Abstract
The study assessed the major factors that determine cross-carpeting in Nigerian politics and examined the impact of cross-carpeting on democratic consolidation in Nigeria. It also determined how issues relating to cross-carpeting in Nigerian politics can be properly managed. These were with a view to investigating the effects of cross-carpeting on the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria's Fourth Republic.
The study made use of both primary and secondary sources of data collection. The 30 respondents purposively selected for structured interviews were drawn from the academia, House of Assembly, party officials and opinion leaders. The rationale for these selections was based on their level of involvement, interest and information about Nigerian politics. Nine of the respondents were drawn from the departments of political science of three universities; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Olabisi Onabanjo University and Ahmadu Bello University which represented the defunct Eastern, Western and Northern regions. The selection also included six House of Assembly members, twelve party officials including chairmen, secretaries and treasurers of the two major parties (APC and PDP) in Anambra, Ogun and Kaduna states. The remaining three respondents were drawn from opinion leaders also from the three states. Tape recorder device was used and note-taking utilized as back up during the interview. Secondary data was sourced from textbooks, journals, the internet, magazines and newspapers. Data collected were analysed using content analysis.
The study found that indiscipline and lack of ideology in Nigerian political parties were the major factors that determined cross-carpeting. It also found that incessant cross-carpeting was antithetical to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Finally, the study affirmed that for democracy to be well-established in Nigeria, party discipline and internal democracy must be strictly adhered to by political parties to check the menace of incessant cross-carpeting among political office holders.
The study concluded that incessant cross-carpeting across political parties by political office holders had constrained democratic consolidation in Nigeria.
Description
xiii, 117p
Keywords
Democratic, Cross-carpeting, Political parties, Magazines, Politics
Citation
Irabor,P.A (2016). Cross-carpeting and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Obafemi Awolowo University