Nigeria, May 1 -- There's a concern that Nigeria could soon become a one-party state, not by law, like in China, but through subterfuge - or in legal terms, de facto - similar to Cameroon, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, or even Rwanda, where the ruling parties are inflicting a slow, painful death on the opposition.

Those who express this concern have given many reasons. The clearest and most troubling, it seems, is the wave of defections to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that has depleted the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Wave After Wave

Apart from federal lawmakers from Osun to Kaduna and Niger states who have defected, as of 25 April, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Ok...