Party-Switching in a Distributive State: Towards a Meta-Narrative on the Nigerian Experience

We analyse party-switching in Nigeria by grounding the practice on the framework of distributive state. The consideration that drives the rampant defection from one party to another is the prospect of benefitting from the allocation of state economic resources, political offices, and other forms of patronage. The net recipient of defectors is usually the ruling party even in cases that electoral victory was won in other parties. Using the distributive state theory and relying on documentary method, we argue that this trend connects to the distributive nature of the Nigerian state and a constitutional design that permits wide ranging powers to the president. The enormous powers of the president in determining who gets what increases attraction to the ruling party. Together, these factors lead to centripetal drift towards the ruling party, and condition the rhythm of party politics including party switching in Nigeria.