Nigeria, March 5 -- Senator Seriake Dickson, representing Bayelsa West, has defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

The former governor of Bayelsa State announced his decision during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

The NDC was recently registered as a political party by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in February.

Explaining his decision, Dickson criticised the wave of defections by opposition politicians to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), insisting that Nigeria must not slide into a one-party state.

"Nigeria cannot be a one-party state. Nigeria is not designed to be a one-party state," he said.

He noted that Nigeria's political, cultural and...