A stalwart of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Brigadier Gen. John Sura (retd), has said the recent defection from the party to the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Delta State and other parts of the country underscored the lack of ideology, principle and conscience among most political elites in the country.
General Sura, who believes Nigeria is tilting toward a one-party state, said the majority of the politicians could not endure the rigour of being in opposition because of self-serving reasons, adding that the gale of defections to the APC exposed the underbelly of the political class.
He told the Nigerian Tribune that the founding fathers of the PDP wanted Nigeria to lead in Africa while simultaneously laying the groundwork for improved democracy for Africans, but lamented that their ideals are not being upheld.
“We don’t have individuals with conscience anymore. Many of them are in politics without ideology, instead focusing on themselves and their political futures; that is what we are witnessing today in the PDP.
“At present, any PDP man or politician who feels dissatisfied and insecure does not want to remain in the Golgotha or at a passive level. He moves to the opposite side.
‘That is exactly what is happening now. Until we begin to have people with conscience, principles and philosophy, and who stick tenaciously to the ideals of where they belong, we will continue to travel in circles without any bearing,” he stated.
Sura remarked that defection without recourse to due procedures as outlined in the law, should not be tolerated and urged the judiciary to act swiftly against violators of the constitutional provision.
“Once you quit the party that placed you into an elective post, you should exit that office completely. Now, I don’t know what is expected of the legislators elected on the platform of the PDP in the Delta State House of Assembly and at the National Assembly; based on the constitution, they are expected to vacate their seats.
“The ones that are leaving today are leaving to join the ruling class, the ruling party. It means if we don’t take time, the PDP, which would have been the major opposition in the land, will collapse. As of now, we don’t have any major opposition party; we only have major opposition candidates or individuals standing as opposition, not parties.
“We are supposed to be seeing and hearing from the NWC of PDP, the NWC of Labour, the NWC of APGA, and the NWC of other political parties talking, and other members within those parties coming out to talk.
“But since they have all gone down, we only have individuals now speaking as opposition. For example, Peter Obi is everywhere, talking about good governance and the wrongs the ruling party is committing.
“This would have been the role of strong parties. Every state was supposed to have state executive committees doing the same. But we have elected people into the executive councils who are just there for their pockets and stomachs.”
“They don’t know the principles or philosophy of the party, so they have nothing to offer by way of criticism. Therefore, we are already tilting towards a one-party state,’ he said.
Sura enjoined the National Assembly to take advantage of the ongoing constitutional review to address the issue of deflection, adding that the opposition parties in the National Assembly should also push that once. If anyone defects, he automatically loses his seat.
“We do not need to go to court for interpretation. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has already made nonsense of that clause with what happened with the 27 lawmakers in Rivers State,” he said.
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