Of defection and politics without principles

THERE should be a law against the unwholesome practice of receiving the mandate of one party, and taking it to support the fortunes of another political party. Take a good look at those elected officials who have left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC), and what you see is politics of self and self alone in action. Hope Uzodinma was not elected by voters in a credible election. He was declared governor by the Supreme Court. That is why the people of Imo State derogatorily refer to him as ‘ the Supreme Court governor’. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi was unhappy that PDP would not consider the idea of zoning the 2023 presidential ticket to the South-East. While APC gave the impression that it was willing to usher in an Igbo presidency in 2023, the PDP insisted on its traditional open National Convention during which candidates from any part of the country can compete in an open democratic election. Governor Umahi, who is completing his second term in office and cannot run again, felt the only way for him to progress politically is to defect to a party where he could be considered for president or perhaps vice president.

Prospecting for gold has turned Zamfara State into the wild wild West on the watch of Bello Matawalle. Matawalle’s membership of the PDP was made more uncomfortable by criticism from his colleagues in the PDP. Governors from the oil-producing states in particular challenged the governor to throw Zamfara gold into the national coffers as they are compelled to donate their oil to be shared nationally. As he himself expressed several times, under those circumstances, Matawalle felt more at home in APC than in PDP. Governor Ben Ayade’s case is no less pathetic. The embattled governor of Cross River State was at loggerheads with PDP leaders of the state who accused him of autocratic tendencies. It was alleged that the governor’s aides wrote lists of party executives and candidates instead of conduction democratic elections. A rift soon developed between the people and their governor. Finding it increasingly difficult to control the party structure, Ayade felt he had no use for the PDP, and sought an alternative in the APC. There had been widespread insinuations that many of the governor’s pet projects were in fact phantom projects.

Each of the PDP governors who defected to APC is running away from debilitating personal problems. Their cross over is a matter of expediency, not principle. Their party and the people who gave them the opportunity to become the leader of their state are too powerless at this point in time to help them. Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for the citizens of their states and for Nigeria, the ruling party is always ready to offer shelter to dissidents. Nigerians will remember the outrageous declaration of Comrade Oshiomhole, a one-time National Chairman of APC who shamelessly offered his party as a refuge for anyone. President Muhammadu Buhari is the leader of APC, and in spite of his proclamations of innocence, the welcome he is willing to extend to people with questionable character is evidence that APC lacks principles. The APC will go to any length to beef up its membership. It is particularly determined to surpass the PDP in the governorship count. Note that before Ayade’s defection, APC could not claim to be a national party, as it had no governor in the South-South geopolitical zone.

The defection of people to the ruling APC party is a reflection of the desperate times we live in. Principles and morality are fast becoming luxuries that people can hardly afford! How else can one explain going to become a member of a political party that has plunged Nigeria into the worst state of insecurity it has ever experienced during peace time? What is the attraction to a party that is unable to stem the tide of the nation’s economic collapse? And what could possibly endear anyone to a political party headed by an ultra tribalist, a man who through his appointments, actions and utterances is acting as president, not of Nigeria, but of the Muslim North? Unfortunately, defection from party to party has become the norm in Nigerian politics, especially at the approach of general elections. These recent defections could therefore be perceived as a prelude to 2023.  Political party membership usually becomes stable after national elections. Many of the defectors to APC are likely to shuttle back to PDP once PDP is back in power. What is more worrying today is whether there will be a Nigeria tomorrow.

• Pearse, PhD, is a public affairs analyst and PDP stakeholder.

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