Nigerian politics is replete with lots of abracadabra. In the Nigerian context, it is a business for the rich where the area of investment is primarily determined by the Returns on Investment. The politicians like the conventional businessman looks for the most fertile ground or opportunities of investment by deliberating undermining who they were actually meant to serve. The adage that says in politics, “there is no permanent friend but permanent interest” has derailed and destroyed the ‘evil’ concept called democracy as practiced in Nigeria.
Presently, the Nigeria polity is witnessing heavy traffic of defections from one political party to the other. Without intent to go into details, I will do a random illumination of the happenings in the Nigerian polity. In the build up to the 2015 general elections, the then opposition party (having formed an alliance with other political parties) and coming up finally to become the All Progressives Congress (APC), successfully wrestled power from the then ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party. To form a legal basis upon which defections from the ruptured party (a party riddled by massive corruption and ineptitude by the then President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration), the “newPDP) was crafted. In order not to lose seats at all levels, those decampees quickly cited that there was a crack in the political party, and as result of that they had legitimate grounds to decamp from it. Thus, many quickly began to decamp to their supposedly new found fertile ground called the All Progressives Congress. There and then, they decamped in their droves. The APC was obviously happy that their party was headed for a breakthrough in the 2015 general elections. They indeed clinched their victory to become the party in gobernment and were actually set to effect their much touted CHANGE which was their mantra. They did not know that their party was only ballooned by political egrets that would lead it to regrets in the course of time.
As time flew, and basically as the 2019 elections draw near, a period to the end of the first tenure of the APC presidency, many of the decampees from the hitherto rubbished PDP began to migrate to their “Home” like the cattle egrets who have no permanent place of abode but only prostitutes with the most conducive atmosphere for purely personal gains. The basic reason for the political migration by these egrets was because they were not either “carried along in the line of their duties”, or they were treated with “high-handedness” by the ruling APC, therefore not having political fulfillment. But the underlying reason was that they do not have the platform to fulfill their political ambition in the APC, which like harlots they rushed into a relationship with. They were allegedly not given automatic tickets, therefore having their hopes seriously dashed.
To also bake an excuse that would have a legal backing for their decamping, they had to replicate a make-belief crisis-ridden All Progressives Congress. Like the newPDP (nPDP) formed in 2015, these schemers came up with the Reformed APC (rAPC) as a faction of the ruling party, thereby giving an impression that the party was factionalized. Upon this, they perfected their defection plan and they began to fly away one after the other. Sincerely speaking, the reason for the decamping of these political harlots is basically to pursue self interest. It is neither for the interest of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) nor for the nation as widely touted. Those who are migrating to the APC are not also doing so for the best interest of the nation. There is basically no difference between those in the PDP and in the APC both at the present, and in the future of Nigerian politics. They are the same of the same.
In the angle of some who defected to the PDP from the APC, among who included the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Alhaji Rabiu Kwakwanso etc, are all struggling to win the presidential ticket of their political party, the PDP, at the least. Different reasons have been adduced for their decamping, but the truth remains that their selfishness overrides the window-dressed excuses. By the time some of them fail to realize their ambition, they may further shamelessly decamp to other political party or even return to the much-hated APC (that is, if APC eventually wins the 2019 general elections) or may even choose to stick to their new party – the PDP, not because they have an iota of integrity but because they may be ashamed of hopping from one party to the other. Their stay may also be influenced by the time-table drawn by the party to favour their political ambition in the process of time as long as they maintain a high degree of loyalty within an expected period of time.
If these political hypocrites were sincere to themselves and to the people they were meant to serve, why couldn’t they stick to the parties they belong to, resolve any knotty issues, build the party, and by implication move the country forward? But their greed and avarice blindfold them to decamping and hopping in search of greener pastures. By all measurable standards, I rank Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, and Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu as men to be respected in terms of party loyalty, sagacity and political stability in the respective parties they belong to.. These political heavyweights can’t be compared with those who tore their membership cards and later turn around to seek for relevance in where they had once despised.
Democracy was said to be copied from America. In American politics, once election results are announced and the winner declared, political tension is downplayed while the interest of the nation and the citizens becomes sacrosanct. The major focus of all political parties, whether it is the party in government or the opposition party, remains the collective development of the American nation and its citizenry.
Until the level of political defections in Nigerian politics is grossly minimized and there are collaborative efforts to build Nigeria by the party in government and the opposition parties, we will continue to enjoy the proceeds of political hypocrisy and the gradual but sure death of a highly endowed nation like Nigeria. Let the electorates know that the current spate of defections is nothing but orchestrated deception. Let us tread with caution in the midst of these hoppers and egrets.
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