A gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra November 18 governorship election, Chief George Moghalu has said that the party will produce the next governor of the state. Moghalu who is the National Auditor of APC stated this yesterday at a forum organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalist(NUJ), Anambra State Council in Awka, while delivering a paper entitled ‘‘Political ideology and consistency in party politics: a case study of contemporary Nigeria”. He said Anambra state had no reason to continue to be in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) that had no national spread. He said the time had come for the state to hook to the centre after nearly 15 years of sitting in limbo as a result of being into opposition. He maintained that he and the APC had better manifesto and programmes to move the state forward. He called for more stringent laws against defection, saying that any defector should be made to lose the position they were occupying in their previous political parties.
“This is pertinent because its political parties that win elections and not individuals,’’ he said. He regretted that the development had made political parties to be reduced to mere personal and sectional interest at the expense of national integration and development. He said it was personal interest that caused defection and inconsistency as well as lack of continuity in party politics in Nigeria. According to him, “Once it is impossible to continue promoting personal interests in their original parties, politicians begin to move from one party to another, abandoning ideologies once held with such quick succession that can be compared to the frequency of the lightning that accompanies a thunderstorm” “The poverty of political ideology seen in the Nigerian political sphere has shown such negative effects on both the political parties and the nation at large.
“The project of national rebirth has been most hit because rather than consolidating development, parties have been used to promote sectionalism and opportunism. “We must replace politics of religion, ethnicity and money with steadfastness, dedication to welldefined principles, consistence and commitment to chosen political parties. Defections must be reduced. The era of mortgaging values and virtues at the altar of money, lust for power and recognition must be abandoned. The politics of value cannot exist without ideology,” he added. Moghalu attributed the frequent defection by politicians to lack of clear-cut political ideologies in the existing political parties. He said to most Nigerian politicians, party ideologies were mere ideas needed to formalize the creation of political party, which would be neither upheld, nor valued.