Sir: There is an alarming rise in political defections in Nigeria. Turncoats complain about the absence of internal democracy in their parties and of political witch-hunt. Isn’t it weird to see politicians castigate a political party at sunset only to defect to same party at sunrise?
Winston Churchill was once a Liberal Democrats (Lib Dems) but he died as a Conservative party man. He never returned to his former party. Ronald Reagan toyed with being a Democratic Party member for a brief period but died holding on to the beliefs of the Republican Party. Defecting once in a life time was enough for him.
What do you see as the goals of political quislings? Could it be for security, relevance? Should politics be a matter of life and death?
In the first republic, the NCNC party of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe criticised the Action Group party of Chief Obafemi Awolowo for coaxing its members on the floor of the Western House of Parliament to join the latter even though it (NCNC) was poised to control the house and form a government.
Historians say that the claim by the NCNC is not true as it (NCNC) only won Lagos but not the entire old Western Region and that the Action Group only wooed candidates who won elections to represent town unions and cultural groups so as to have a majority because the party structures then unlike now was not firmly established.
They were even independent candidates who won election to parliament on the strength of their character. The essence of coalition to form governments as is done in Israel from the 1960s up until now is different from the renunciation of party principles, beliefs for other parties in Nigeria.
Without a doubt, political figures achieve their goals easily in Nigeria. The larger populations are poorly educated in the mind to demand for accountability and they lack the financial and emotional stamina to pour out on the street to protest against those hindering growth and development. You cannot blame them; people who are financially disempowered operate from a position of weakness. Do you know the agenda of defectors and do defections have any positive impact on government?
Aspirations are good but not ambitions without a winning game plan. It is clear for all to see that their objectives are without a true North, a captain of a ship misses his way without a true North. The political defectors easily fall prey to the urgent instead of the important. And the urgent is to massage egos and be relevant.
Leadership is contextual, and politics is competitive but these lots fear opposition and so cannot compete. They want to be in the winning teams always. As they party in the hall of shame, bold risks aren’t taken to help end poverty, to build institutions, infrastructure, and human capacity in fragile states, like Nigeria as preached again and again by the World Bank Group.
Nigerians do not know which party is Right and Left Wing – or what the terms mean? Which party is for the citizens and aspires to support those who cannot support themselves, the party of dreamers that believe in equality to redeploy opportunities and wealth?
Where is the party that makes laws that protect women, children, the disabled community and against all forms of discrimination. Show us one party that believes not only in economic freedom but promotes it with clear cut policies.
Should we then applaud adults who love to dance like teenagers? But for the oil in the Niger Delta, some of these defectors wouldn’t be in politics. Nigeria’s type of democracy doesn’t require deep-thinkers to solve problems. Play hard as much as they like and the IOCs will generate all of the money so the politicians can share.
After which they dig wells for water in communities and construct roads and document it for Nigerians to see, all of these in the 21st century.
The drudgery of office is a hard sell but the directing of policies from an Olympian height is an easy sell. Why do Nigerian politicians love to eat first even when it is an age long aphorism that, “leaders eat last?”
- Simon Abah, Abuja.