The Nation Newspaper

Tag: defections

  • Rivers’ season of defections, revelations

    Rivers’ season of defections, revelations

    George Santayana, the famous Spanish philosopher and poet, writing on the lessons of history in Madrid in 1863, noted that “those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”.

    Evidently, there is a sturdy correlation between those immortal lines and political developments in Rivers State today. To every student of history, Rivers State and the gale of defections and revelations at the moment capture the real meaning of Santayana’s well known and all-time quote.

    For me, the real tragedy for Chief Nyesom Wike and his motley crowd of receding supporters is that they have learnt and remembered nothing, despite their long years in politics. Again, like most philosophers, Santayana shows us how fickle and forgetful the human memory can be in moments of great crisis. Are we not once again travelling a familiar but absolutely avoidable road?

    But there is an interesting twist to the goings-on in our dear state.

    For some of us who have followed Rivers State politics over the years, we knew Wike’s cookie would surely crumble. The only novelty however is the unfolding speed with which former members of the PDP are defecting to the APC.

    Unlike the past, these PDP defectors are now filling the gaps for us and re-enforcing with their horrible tales, the violent and dishonourable activities of the former r uling party in Rivers State before, during and after last year’s general elections.

    Part of the revelations of these APC returnees centre on high-handedness, intimidation, threats and even death sentence, just like Wike’s death wish late last year to officials of the Independent

    National Electoral Commission, INEC and people of Rivers State.

    Resorting to threats, not only to election umpires but also to his people in a democracy showed how decrepit our society had become. In an age when reason and compromise guide political process, I am horrified with the embarrassing absence of civility and moderation in the words of the occupier of an exalted office like that of a governor. Sadly Wike, in his characteristic manner chose to live below the expectation of his high office.

    Unfortunately, this death threat from a governor already has consequences. It appears to be giving rise to objectionable conducts by some people who are emboldened by such pronouncement. Today, armed robbery, kidnapping and other forms of criminality have continued unabated in our state. But this death threat, I must emphasize, is a national security matter and I hope those saddled with the responsibility of securing Nigeria are watching.

    Lately, I have also been reviewing comments by our brothers and sisters who are rejoining us in APC after many months of fierce political disagreement and acrimony. Some of them were Wike’s former aides and close associates but there is a common thread that runs through their stories. Their complaints are essentially that of exclusion, intimidation and threats.

    But I am not surprised. A leopard can never change its spots. The good news however is that the stories of the returnees, horrible as they are, inspire. Their awful accounts and experiences have further strengthened our resolve and determination to change our state for good by electing those who are prepared for leadership. Critical also is the fact that these defections are helping to deflate PDP’s contrived popularity and bloated ego.

    I know Rivers State will rebound, just like Nigeria and we can see the signs. It is heart-warming that members of other political parties across our state can now gather without fear of PDP’s harassment and intimidation. A few days ago, I read the touching story of how APCmembers in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area celebrated their first meeting that did record any form of attack in many years.

    As a party, what the APC wants is freedom. There can never be a fair political contest in an atmosphere of fear. In the last couple of years, we bore the brunt of state sponsored violence and terrorism, a situation that came to an unparalleled crescendo during the March and April elections. But today, we are better, bigger and ready to effect the needed change. I congratulate the returnees for their heroism and patriotism. I also commend our leaders for their magnanimity in keeping the gate of our great party wide open.

    • Jumbo, a public affairs analyst is also a member of the APC.

     

  • Tinubu: I didn’t grant interview on defections, Buhari

    Tinubu: I didn’t grant interview on defections, Buhari

    The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has declared as “fiction”  and “fantasy” an online report in which he is quoted to have predicted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will stop President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election bid in 2019.

    The report was published by a little known online platform, “Post Nigeria online”, dated 14 January with the title, “I am afraid PDP will stop Buhari in 2019 – Tinubu”.

    “ The writer, Amako Nneji, concocted the latest work of political deceit,” said a statement Friday night by Tinubu’s media office.

    “No sane reporters would dare put their true names to this screed; it is pure libel. If the disciple of this libel truly believes in this account, we challenge him to visit Tinubu’s office or to announce where he can be found. Tinubu’s attorney will serve the writer with a complaint for libel. The writer will then have a chance to defend and explain himself in open court and before the public. If he is so sure of the fidelity of his tale, let him speak openly before us as to what he wants us to believe is the truth instead slinking about writing lies in the anonymous dark.

    “The falsity of the article is patently clear in that it does not even comport with the minimal standards of journalism. The writer fails to divulge the date or the place the alleged statement was made. This omission is wilful. The writer does not state these basic facts because the meeting never happened; to give such information would make it even easier to prove his work is a lie.  The writer has not seen Tinubu and has no idea where Tinubu was on any given day.

    “Worse, the writer says Tinubu was speaking to newsmen. If so, why have no other newspapers carried this story? The answer is simple. There was no such meeting between Tinubu and several newsmen. Because the story is the figment of one awfully wounded.

    “The story contains a long quote supposedly from Tinubu.  There is no way a true journalist would have tried to transcribe this by hand. He would have taped it. We dare this journalist to produce the tape.

    “The story falls in the genre of the hit-man tactics of the politically desperate. Clearly, the schemers behind this are minions of the collapsing PDP. Their party is falling apart before our eyes, with multiple defections by the day.  They fabricated this story to discourage further defections and to sow discord in the APC. However, the discord will remain where it belongs: the PDP.

    “Tinubu has never publicly commented on the defections of people from the PDP, much less making derogatory remarks about the phenomenon. In fact, if you check, he has welcomed many former PDP members into the APC. Tinubu is a democrat and a progressive. He believes that the APC is and shall always be opened to those who share its progressive beliefs and who are committed to a better Nigeria. The more people of like minds gather, the stronger the party and the more likely it is to achieve the objective of building Nigeria anew.

    “The writer of this fable tries to bring discord between Tinubu and Buhari regarding 2019 election and the budget. The attempt will fail. President Buhari was elected less than a year ago. The challenges he inherited are many. We must all seek to help him do the great things he envisions. 2019 is such a long, far road away. Let 2019 take care of itself. Today presents enough challenges of its own. Those who want Nigeria to succeed should be more concerned with tackling the difficulties of today and not stirring up trouble based on what might happen tomorrow.

    “For the record, Tinubu supports the government’s expansionary budget and has no qualms with its objectives and programmes. For the writer to say Tinubu complained about the figures is to pile lie upon lie.

    “Whosoever wrote the story is serpentine. But their venom will not hurt Tinubu, Buhari or the APC. They are like the mad snake that mediated its own demise by biting itself.”

  • Defections hit PDP as Benue rerun nears

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Benue South Senatorial District has experienced defections as the rerun nears.

    Members have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the nine local governments.

    Last Friday, over 200 members dumped PDP for APC at Okete Ward in Otukpo.

    The defection took place when elders, women and youth leaders in the ward visited Deputy Governor Benson Abounu in Otukpo to thank him for his contributions to the ward.

    He hailed the people for their support and their appreciation of efforts by the Governor Samuel Ortom administration to save the state after eight years of maladministration.

    Abounu enjoined the people to redouble their support for the APC, saying having committed itself to qualitative service, the best way to encourage the Ortom government was for Benue South people to vote the APC standard-bearer, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, in the rerun.

    He described him as a democrat and a sound and intelligent Idoma politician committed to the development of the area.

    Abounu extolled the maturity, political consistency and contributions of a member of the Benue State Local Government Service Commission, Chief Ekainu  Ijachi, to the development of Okete ward.

    He advised the people to support the government to address problems confronting them.

    The people, who thanked the deputy governor for facilitating the appointment of their kinsman, Ijachi, as a member of the commission, pledged their support for the Ortom administration and the APC.

    Owoicho Adama, who spoke on behalf of the people, assured Abounu of their support for APC, the Ortom government and Onjeh.

    The defectors’ leader, Mr. Adoyi Enokela, said they dumped PDP after realising that it had lost relevance.

    The APC Chairman at Okete ward, Ejeh Adama Agbo, thanked them for joining to sweep PDP out of the state.

    He promised them equal opportunities.

    Last week, the PDP Chairman at Ekile Ward in Ado Local Government, Clement Ogbu, 14 members of the executive committee (exco) and over 200 grassroots politicians joined the APC at a ceremony in Ekile. It was witnessed by the APC Zonal Chairman, Mohammed Hassan and members of the state working committee.

    A PDP chieftain at Ari in Ado Council and an ex-local government Secretary, Prince Richard Oriri and over 300 members defected to the APC.

  • Much ado about Bayelsa defections

    I have read with rapt attention media reports of the zigzag defections of some members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa, the home state of the immediate past president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Curiously, the leadership of the opposition, particularly Chief Timipre Sylva, turned it into a media jamboree. Sylva has been trying, to no avail, to reap political capital from it in preparation for the declaration of his vaulting ambition to return to power after more than four years of his misadventure in the Creek Haven, the state’s seat of government. And the narrative was skewed as if the defection was a one-way traffic, whereas hundreds of politicians from many political parties have also been thronging PDP’s camp in recent times.

    It is interesting to note that over 98 per cent of the defectors are Sylva’s appointees, associates, relatives and people he had used his office as governor to rail-road into the state and national assemblies between 2007 and 2011. Interestingly, almost all of these people did not support the governorship ambition of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson in 2012 when the election held. Instead, they supported Sylva even when it was clear that the then President, Dr. Jonathan, the critical stakeholders, the PDP apparatchik and, of course, majority of the people in the state were backing Dickson.

    Curiously, the names of same people who claimed to have defected to APC since the PDP lost power at the federal level are being bandied week in, week out whenever announcements of defections are carried in the media, making the whole Bayelsa defection a macabre dance! Can one person defect to the same party twice? But I am impressed with the way Governor Dickson handled the defection. Those who do not know the talk na do governor well had expected him to be hostile and deny the opposition the use of public facilities, but Dickson made the Samson Siasia Stadium available to them and provided security for a hitch-free decamping event recently; the same gesture the governor extended to President Muhammadu Buhari when he launched his campaign in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital. The reverse was the case in 2011 when Sylva, as governor, denied Buhari the use of the stadium and the general’s campaign was disrupted as hired youths pelted Buhari and his team with stones and sachet water.

    Top amongst the defectors are Hon. Heineken Lokpobri, the immediate past senator representing Bayelsa West; Chief Clever Ikisikpo, former senator representing Jonathan’s (Bayelasa East) between 2011 and 2015; former Chairman of NDDC, Dr. Tarila Tebepah and former Managing Director of NDDC, Chief Timi Alaibe. Others are the Commissioner for Agriculture under Sylva, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha and former House of Reps member representing Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency between 2007 and 2015, Hon Warman Ogoriba; two former acting governors of the state, Hon. Nestor Ibinabo and Hon. Werinipre Seibarugu; former Finance Commissioner under Sylva, Mr. Charles Opuala and a host of other aides, appointees and associates of Sylva.

    Indeed, some of these characters were first recruited by the former First Lady to undermine Dickson ahead of the 2015 general election and to prepare the ground for the supplanting of Dickson with her anointed godson, Hon Weripamowei Dudafa, who was Commissioner for Local Government under Sylva and Special Assistant on Domestic Matters to the immediate past president. The defunct Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) under the leadership of Seibarugu became a veritable tool used to blackmail and cow the Dickson administration. They made it look to unsuspecting Nigerians that the governor was not supporting the re-election bid of Jonathan while in actual sense, he was the one leading the charge and taking all the shots fired at the former president!

    Indeed these same people calling for Dickson’s head are not doing anything strange. They are back to a familiar turf. As it was in 2012, so it is now and so it may be on December 5 when we shall all cast our vote and respect the majesty of the ballot box! What is, however, strange is that all the defectors want to be governor in December, making analysts to dub APC in Bayelsa as a party of serial governorship aspirants without membership! After three and a half years of Dickson’s administration, one would have expected these defectors to shift ground and come on board the restoration train. More so that Dickson has consistently patronised and extended the olive branch to them.

    Curiously, Alaibe, Tebepah, Ikiogha and all the former NASS members dumping the PDP are big time contractors in Dickson’s government. Yet they accuse the governor of not empowering them. Similarly, pundits had thought that since the thrifty Countryman Governor has delivered on his campaign promises by running the state in the fear of God, turning the state into a huge construction site, restoring peace to the hitherto volatile Bayelsa and providing purposeful, transparent and accountable leadership to the people, those jumping the ship would remain with Dickson to consolidate the gains recorded so far. That didn’t happen understandably because the defection is not about the well-being of the people, the development of Bayelsa State and the Ijaw nation; all that matter to the defectors is their self aggrandisement. Chief Richard Kpodo, factional chairman of APC in Bayelsa State, offered an insider perspective as to why some politicians were joining the ruling party when he said they were corrupt politicians who wanted to evade prosecution by the federal government of President Buhari!

    Information in the public domain shows that their grouse with Governor Dickson is that he has refused to loot or share public funds with anybody; a virtue that has earned the governor national and international recognitions, which the enemies believe must be cut down by stopping his re-election. A few of them also beef the governor for embarking on the ambitious first ever free and compulsory education programme and the social security scheme for the aged in Bayelsa State. They believe the money that should have been ordinarily shared among the elites is being channeled to the servicing of the lofty programmes, but the governor remained unshaken!

    In his recent media chat in Yenagoa, the state capital, Chief DSP Alameiyesiegha, first elected governor of Bayelsa State and Chairman of the PDP elders Committee/ Reconciliation Committee in the state, corroborated the above assertion mildly. He said: “As chairman of the Reconciliation Committee, we have invited so many people (defectors)… We dialogued with them and most of them saw reasons with us. The whole thing (defection) is about self-interest. Their grievances range from not being given appointments to not receiving their severance allowances during Timipre Sylva administration, or because they were not picked as candidates in the last general election. And I asked the question: must it always be you?”

    However, the cheering news, according to Alameiyesiegha, fondly called the Governor General of the Ijaw Nation, is that many of these ‘aggrieved’ politicians will return to PDP before the governorship election already slated for December 5 because, according to him, APC has no place in Ijaw land and Bayelsa in particular. He also expressed confidence that Dickson will be re-elected, declaring; “Governor Dickson has done well. What I have seen on ground in the last three years is very encouraging…”

    For the PDP and Governor Dickson, the so called defection to APC makes little or no difference to the strength and spread of the party in Bayelsa State. Yes, the PDP has lost out at the centre but in Bayelsa and many Niger Delta states, the party waxes stronger and remains a winning behemoth. Apart from the weighty voice of the Governor-General, the mainstream women and youth groups in the state, the clergy and Ijaw elders in Bayelsa have condemned the defection of some PDP members to APC, many of whom were aides, appointees and associates of Sylva. They are leading the movement for the re-election of Governor Dickson. Tagged Operation Retain Dickson in Creek Haven, the groups insist they must re-elect Dickson in government house to reward him for his hard work, vision and selfless service to fatherland.

    At separate events, these groups endorsed the re-election of Dickson. The elders for example, under the auspices of Bayelsa Elders Consultative Council, condemned the APC for perpetrating “falsehood” in the state. They also lambasted the PDP politicians that defected to the APC, describing them as shame to the Ijaw nation. The group, which is led by a PDP chieftain, Chief Francis Duokpola, wondered why a party that controversially wrested power from Jonathan would be embraced by desperate politicians whom they describe as self-seeking. They vowed to stop APC from gaining root in Bayelsa State even as they declared, “The APC has declared war on the Ijaw nation. Right from the days of our forefathers, the Ijaws have never been conquered and our generation cannot be conquered by APC!” The APC may be enjoying a synthesis of membership now, which will definitely lead to antithesis after a flag bearer emerges, and eventual implosion before the December 5 polls.

    For sure, the evidence on ground doesn’t indicate that the APC will defeat the PDP. Already the PDP produced 105 councillors and the eight council chairmen, controls the 24-man state House of Assembly with 21 members and produced all members of the National Assemblies! And with a litany of over 500 government appointees and strong PDP structure, it will take a camel to pass through the eye of a needle for APC to sack PDP from Creek Haven.

    Aside these advantages, if Governor Dickson declares for second term, he will be banking on the people and his landmark achievements in office to retain his plum job. But it won’t be a bad idea for the Alameiyesiegha committee to bring back the obviously repentant defectors to the PDP family.

     

    • Francis Agbo, a journalist lives in Yenagoa and wrote in via francisagbo38@gmail.com

  • Greed and politics of defections

    Nigerians are a very peculiar people; they carry out their daily activities with certain peculiarity and are clearly indomitable in all spheres that they find themselves. Nigeria, is itself a nation of uncommon circumstances, hence the atypical nature of its populace.

    It is that special flora of its societies that makes Nigerian a force to reckon with in the comity of nations. Nigerians are brilliant, witty, sassy, imaginative, creative and unconquerable. They just survive whatever the circumstance might be.

    Dumping one political party for the other has become the stock in trade of many of the nation’s politicians and as expected, they have always justified their actions by canvassing excuses such as “irreconcilable differences” and “lack of internal democracy” in their previous parties.

    Unlike Late Sir Ahmadu Ballo, the Late  Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe and  late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who were guided by ideologies with which they laid the foundation for the development of their regions and Nigeria at large, many of today’s politicians quickly defect to another political party once their personal interest is threatened.

    In 2013, David Morris wrote: “Contrary to popular wisdom, the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats is not on the size of government but the purpose and goals of government. Both parties believe in taxing heavily and spending lavishly when it comes to national security that protects our nation from external attack.”

    He continued: “what Democrats see as steps to enhance security, Republicans view as steps that restrict liberty. They assert that government-created health exchanges interfere with the right of insurance companies to manage their own affairs, while the requirement that everyone have health insurance constitutes an act of tyranny. Minimum wage laws interfere with the economic liberty of business and the freedom of the marketplace, take for instance President Obama’s Healthcare bill which has since been code-named “Obamacare”.

    What we have in our system of democracy as opposed to the American system, where we claim to have copied our democracy, is a group of individuals, driven by gluttony for power and guilt of conscience. The ultimate being that they should be allowed to freely dip hands into the public treasury at will.

    But the politicians of today do not care about ideologies or principles; they are barefaced prostitutes running from one party to the other, depending on the one in power. They are bereft of shame or dignity, and don’t give a hoot about what the public thinks.

    Columnist, Donatus Okpe, said: “If Ideology is a body of non-compromising beliefs or principles, in the face of its decades of systematic institutional failures, Nigeria should not expect miracles from whoever wins March 28th (Presidential) election. She is a country where the past holds the history that is too weak to inspire the present.”

    It is funny to read and see that barely days to the emergence of the former opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), at the centre, politicians in Kogi State and other parts of the country started decamping to the winning party. It is really nauseating to see a people without principle; without the capacity to endure and nurture their ideals and try to sell it.

    Nigerians were not shocked when the former governor of the crisis-ridden Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, announced his defection to the ruling PDP because his close associate, Inuwa Bwala, had earlier told journalists before the defection that Sheriff was no longer comfortable with the APC structure and had decided to join the PDP.

    Sheriff, who had won elections three times on the platform of the defunct ANPP, justified his sudden love for the PDP, saying he took the decision in the interest of the country. He had said: “Our interest should be on what makes the nation move forward. My decisions will be guided by the interest of the nation first. My thinking of moving to the PDP is also in the interest of the nation.”

    Former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who had waited long for the PDP to abide by the court judgement nullifying his sack as the party’s secretary, openly criticised the party when he defected to the APC shortly before the August 9 governorship election in the state.

    Even before he dumped the APC, Nigerians had expected that the former Minister of Foreign Affairs during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha, Chief Tom Ikimi, would return to the PDP following his failure to realise his ambition of clinching the APC’s national chairmanship position.

    Ikimi, who is believed to lack clear ideological base, had also traversed the defunct APP, ANPP, ACN and APC. The former minister had said shortly after he failed to get the APC national chairmanship position during its convention in June that the convention was a “charade”.

    The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, we cannot forget that he criticised the party for lack of internal democracy before dumping it for the Labour Party in 2006. The governor has also collapsed his political structure under the “Iroko Frontiers” to a group called “Believe Nigeria, Trust Goodluck” for the purpose of supporting President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election bid.

    It was believed that Mimiko returned to the PDP to position himself for either a ministerial or ambassadorial appointment if President Jonathan had won the election. Now that the tide has changed, I guess he would have to re-decamp to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to fulfil his ambition.

    Save for Buhari’s populist ideology, I hardly see anyone that principled not to be tempted to join that ‘cross-carpeting bandwagon’. He stands tall when he straddles the nation’s political landscape. His moral fortitude can only be compared to that of the ilk of Aminu Kano and the rest who had political conviction.

    There are those few among us whose greed and cupidity would not allow to remain in one party. They are always gallivanting from one party to the other, always wanting to be with the ruling party. That is a strange culture of jumping a sinking ship for selfish reasons.

    My fear however is with the rate of cross-carpeting and decamping that have formed recurring decimal of our political experience. Wouldn’t it lead to the implosion of relatively burgeoning All Progressives Congress?

    Thankfully, the President-elect and the National Chairman of the APC have both advised PDP members to remain in their party in order to form a credible opposition.

     

    •Mohammed, 300-Level Mass Comm., KSU

  • Defections

    Defections

    Supreme Court’s decision on legislator is laudable, but …

    AT last, the highest court in the land has spoken on the spate of shameless defections by elected officials in the country. It has become a feature of politicking in the land that, any official, elected or appointed, who fails to have his way on the platform of one party swiftly moves to another without consideration for the ideological or manifesto differences between the parties. Thus far, it has applied to both legislators and executive office holders.

    The Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment, held that a lawmaker, Ifedayo Abegunde, representing Akure South/North Federal Constituency of Ondo State acted illegally by abandoning the party that sponsored his election. It said there was no division in his political party Labour Party (LP) as at the time Abegunde defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). The court stressed that the “division” or “factionalisation” of LP, which was cited by Abegunde as his excuse for abandoning the party, was only at the state level and that only a division that made it “impossible or impracticable” for the party to function by virtue of the proviso in section 68(1)(g) of the constitution, “justifies a person’s defection to another party”.

    According to the court, “The principles enunciated by this court in the two cases – FEDECOý v Goni supra and Attorney General of the Federation v Abubakar supra – is to the effect that only such factionalisation, fragmentation, splintering or ‘division’ that makes it impossible or impracticable for a particular party to function as such will, by virtue of the proviso to section 68(1)(g), justify a person’s defection to another party and the retention of his seat for the unexpired term in the house in spite of the defection. Otherwise, as rightly held by the courts below, the defector automatically loses his seat.”

    The court’s verdict would henceforth act as a check on politicians and their quest to win at all times. Abegunde had been elected in 2011 on the platform of LP, but chose to follow his governor and leader to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when Governor Olusegun Mimiko got tired of the fringe party and sought to work on his political future.

    The apex court has, by that judgment, however, introduced contradiction and double standard in the interpretation of the law. Of particular note is the judgment on the suit filed by former Vice-President  Atiku Abubakar who fought a move to automatically forfeit his post when he moved from the PDP to the Action Congress (AC) where he eventually became the presidential flag bearer in 2007.

    This apparent contradiction has to be resolved and the gap bridged. It is not enough to say a legislator should automatically lose his seat when he leaves the sponsoring party, while a governor who controls the resources of a state could continue in office.

    If the contradiction stems from the constitution, we call on the in-coming administration and National Assembly to effect the necessary changes with a view to deepening democracy in the land. All the legal booby traps inherited from the military should be expunged and mandates must be treated as sacrosanct as they represent the sovereign will of the people. Other laws and legislative rules on the performance rate of lawmakers, etc. must be regulated and standardised towards ensuring that the people are not short-changed.

    Fifty-five years after independence and 16 into the Fourth Republic, we ought to have settled some of the minor issues that have constituted clogs in the wheel of progress. Nigerians should see the change of regime from one party to the other as a call to service and seek the country’s good. From the spate of defections even after the last general elections, it was evident the lessons have not been sufficiently learnt.

  • Defections as trading by another name

    Kehinde Bamigbetan comes across as someone in a haste to fulfill the mission of his generation. He leaves you with no doubt about what he thinks about his society and its socio-economic colouration. When laying out his thoughts on the serious issues of his time, you get the impression that nothing would please him more than to satisfy Chief ObafemiAwolowo in his grave and to bring to bear in his own time that famous quote of Franz Fanon that says “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.” A deep thinker, the former chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area is a man whose unassuming demeanor and ordinariness belies his deep intellectual thoughts. In his submission about society and a man’s place in it, you’re also left with no doubt that Bamigbetan is a Leftist ideologue whose views about the socio-economic and political underpinnings that makes a society would readily find comfort in an Ivory Tower that is solely dedicated to the mass production of brigades of radical thinkers, whose only mission is to force society to embark on a journey it ordinarily would have objected, even for its own good.

    I had asked this young and promising politician in an interview for a niche publication last year why Nigerian politicians always move with ease from one political party platform to another like they change clothes. Hear him: “Our kind of political economy is the commercial capitalist system in which trading is a dominant mode for perpetuation. Even the nation itself is a commercial post of the multinationals…It is a trading post. The ruling class is forced to operate within the system of appropriation that the system recommends. Just look around you, the guys making money are the traders. They’re either trading money in the banking system or they’re trading goods; that’s what Dangote does. Or they’re trading oil; and that’s what Otedola does. This business element also has its own political class who’re also traders…The politicians are not directors of companies where they can be having funds coming to them on a regular basis, based on what they’ve done as hard work in the past. They do not have industrial perspective. No long-term planning. No long-term training. No long-term investment. They’re basically short-term traders. This is the mentality they bring into politics. In that kind of situation you can never have consistent ideologues. You’re going to have political traders. So, what is happening is that you have somebody joining PDP today, going back to APC, leaving APC for LP and leaving that to go back to PDP. He’s just trading with power, network and influence. Those who choose to be ideological or to be consistent are going to suffer for it because they’re rebelling against the dominant values of the system.”

    The gale of defections witnessed by Nigerians in the aftermath of the recently concluded elections where 16 years of hegemonic dominance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suddenly came crashing down might as well be seen as one of the commandments of Nigerian politicians. One cannot but wonder if there’s any system, ideals or things on this planet that Nigerians – if introduced into their environment – does not possess the capacity to adulterate, render more or less useless and outright desecrate rather than ennoble. Although the egregious and shameless defections of the country’s politicians was widely condemned and president-elect Buhari has said that he would rather that the PDP quickly recalibrate itself into a virile opposition, it’s rather disheartening to learn that some key APC leaders met with PDP’s Vincent Ogbulafor of the 60-year rule fame for talks about his defection. It has also been reported that it’s just a matter of time before PDP’s Senate Majority Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba announce that the wind of change blew him into the APC and he just had no choice. It doesn’t get more nauseating than that.

    While the freedom of movement and association as enshrined in the country’s constitution cannot be argued, what needs to be under close scrutiny – if not argued – is the right of refusal by a group whose fundamental interests may not be well served by an ‘invading force’ with all manners of unsavory characters because the constitution guarantee them freedom of association. Unfortunately, the APC is not advancing any powerful argument to preclude these people whose mission should be suspect at best. One cannot but wonder about the wisdom in accepting those who not only did everything possible to sabotage the party’s legitimate efforts to compete for power, but who were also absolutely inconsequential to the success of the party at the recently concluded polls. It will be the day when Ayo Fayose announced that he had never seen a party he’s so proud to associate with than the APC! It’s annoying when our politicians grab the microphone to tell Nigerians that what they did was in the national interest when it’s absolutely clear that all roads lead not to the toll gate of the national interest highway but to their personal economic well-being. They wouldn’t have recognized “national interest” if it came calling and sat in their living rooms for days.

    Bamigbetan’s statement may very well epitomize the deep dislocation in the polity that is probably too overwhelming to be addressed in a fundamental way by the nation’s unhinged and fluid political class. His statement may also have inadvertently exposed the pathetic disposition of the country’s economic and political class as nothing but a bunch of crass opportunists who are completely devoid of any ideological anchor or ennobling social precepts. While it is easy to isolate and pillory the political class – and rightly so – for the Hobbesian nature of the Nigerian state, perhaps it might be necessary to attempt to holistically look at this negative political phenomenon. The Nigerian state has never enjoyed any long, sustaining internal tranquility necessary for growth because she has never really been allowed to organically evolve into any orderly stage of development with her in-built, self-correcting mechanism. Her compass has always been unsteady and fuzzy either through a needless war, military putsches of primitive inclinations and unintelligent and base over lording of one political tendency against another, which has rendered the polity to be perpetually wobbly.

    I have said it before, and it’s worth repeating here that what spirituality and religion are to the human soul are what politics and political parties are to a politician and by extension, to society. For any internal tranquility and up building of the soul to be maintained, the human individual must first be acutely aware of his spirituality. It’s after this awareness must have been properly situated in his inner recess that he can then find the right religion that meets his spirituality. This same principle guides politics and political parties. The one that calls himself a politician must have been able to identify his core values, having aggregated his morals, beliefs and those other societal experiences of his life as the bases of his politics – and be comfortable with them – before he can now look for a political party that fits into his core values. Failure to recognize this principle is in fact the reason why the polity has always been so ‘riotous’ on all fronts.

    Abubakar Shekau probably would have had elected members at the National Assembly by now, if not a few elected Boko Haram governors and House of Assembly members to boot if he had instituted a political party (and he would not have been wrong) based on his religious beliefs of amputating the hands that steals and relegating the women in the states he controls to ‘beasts of burden’. Politicians are not doing themselves any good floating around without any moral/ideological anchor neither will the country make any significant advancement in her developmental trajectory no matter how hard they try.

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com.

  • Defections of shame by politicians

    SIR: The recent victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last presidential and national assembly elections has triggered mass defection of politicians to the winning party. This is not a good development to our quest to sustaining a virile political system in the country. It has the capacity of foisting a one party system in the polity.

    We need an enabling environment that would create favorable opposition parties to checkmate the excesses of the ruling party.

    The defectors should have taken a lesson from the president- elect who refused to change party, despite the olive branch extended to him at that time. The defectors have shown they don’t have clear ideologies and principle of nurturing a party to stardom like what the present opposition party did before winning the centre and many states.

    Nigerian politicians should cultivate the habit of grooming political parties for a long period of time to check the ruling party and deepen our democracy. We should not allow ourselves to be laughing stocks in the eyes of the world with the gale of defections.

     

    • Bala Nayash,

     Yashi Areas, Lokoja,

    Kogi State.

  • PDP laments mass defections

    THE leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lamented the gale of defections of some of its prominent members to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Following the victory of the APC at the presidential election, members of the PDP have been defecting to the APC in droves, a situation the PDP described as painful and sad.

    At a media briefing in Abuja yesterday, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, said it was immoral for the members to defect simply because the party lost the presidential election to the APC.

    His words: “Defection is lawful, but it is immoral to change party because we lost the presidential election. What values and legacy are they leaving for their children.

    “We want committed members to remain in the party. Fair weather members are free to go, but committed ones will stay.”

    Metuh accused the leadership of the APC of luring PDP members, including ministers and legislators, with mouthwatering offers, with the aim of depleting the ranks of the PDP.

    He said: “Recall that we had earlier told Nigerians that the APC had no clear agenda on how to govern our dear country. Rather than concentrate on how to manage the mandate they now hold, they have resorted to seeking ways to stifle opposition and impose a one-party system and complete totalitarian rule in our country.

    “Reports reaching the PDP leadership from across the country show that the APC has been desperately seeking ways to destabilise our ranks and weaken our formations by approaching some senior members of our National Executive Committee (NEC) with phantom promises and threats ostensibly to use them to inject crisis in our fold and pave way for our elected members to cross over to APC.

    “Furthermore, the PDP has it on good authority that part of this agenda of the APC is to intimidate and harass our members, especially officials who served under our administration.

    “However, we wish to state in very unequivocal terms that the PDP leadership under the chairmanship of Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu will not condone any witch-hunt on any of our elected and appointed officers, including state governors, ministers, legislators and others who served with clean records, as such will be met with stiff resistance within the ambits of the principles of democracy.

    “We will do everything humanly possible within the rules to defend democratic principles and ethics, which we have successfully nourished in the past 16 years. On this note, we charge our members to be vigilant and continue to work with our leaders at all levels.

    “Because we are convinced that the APC lacks what it takes to sustain our democracy, the PDP is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that it returned to power in the next four years to save the nation’s democracy and re-channel our vision of a greater Nigeria.

    “The PDP strongly believes that our democratic journey got this far because of the open space our administration gave to all political players, including the APC, and we will not, even in the role of opposition, watch our nation slide into dictatorship.”

  • Season of defections

    We are definitely in a season of defections. Hardly does any day pass by without reports of key political personages defecting from one party to the other. It all started with the registration of the All Progressives Congress APC at a time the ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP was embroiled in debilitating internal crisis.

    Buoyed by the absence of a strong opposition, the three political parties in the merger had made serious compromises that culminated in the formation of the APC. Having been successfully registered, the next task was to scout for members to boost their numerical strength. And at their disposal were PDP leaders who had issues with the running of their party and sundry grievances. They had stumbled out of their mid-term convention to draw attention to their complaints.

    Among them were seven governors and other notable leaders. But despite their weight and the dust raised by their action, much progress was not made in redressing their grouse apparently because of inherent contradictions in some of the demands.

    Five of the governors were later to defect to the APC together with some other key leaders. This move seemed to have precipitated a gale of defections as 37 members of the House of Representatives joined. At the last count, 11 senators have also indicated their intention to defect even as their letter is held up in the senate chambers. There have also been defection from the state assemblies of the defecting governors and sundry others.

    But as the APC is harvesting from the ranks of the PDP, an interesting scenario is also playing out within its camp. Key members of the APC in some of the states have found it increasingly difficult to co-habit with the defecting PDP governors.

    In Sokoto and Kano states considered very strategic by the parties, two foundation leaders of the APC, Attahiru Bafarawa and Ibrahim Shekarau have defected to the PDP. They all cited unfair treatment by their party as the reason for their action. Bafarawa said he defected because of attempts by governors who defected to the party to take over party structures at the states. Though Shekarau was not as forthcoming as Bafarawa on the matter, it is obvious that he is also resenting his arch rival, Governor Rabiu Kwankwso’s leadership of the party. His plight was clearly underscored by his staunch supporter Yakubu Musa Hausawa when he averred that “no one can nurse a legitimate ambition under Kwankwaso’s leadership”. Then came the much awaited defection of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to the APC citing a catalogue of ills meted on him by the PDP. Atiku’s defection did not come to many as a surprise as he was one of the key personages that stumbled out of the PDP convention in protest.

    As things stand, it is difficult to predict the direction of these defections and what future it holds for the country. This is more so given the reasons that have been adduced. From all accounts, the main grouse of the defectors from both sides of the divide is with the way party affairs are being handled. Defecting PDP governors complained bitterly about their party leadership and its arbitrariness. Both Shekarau and Bafarawa made similar complaints against APC leadership in unilaterally handing over to defecting governors the structures of the party. So where is the difference?

    No reference is made to such key issues as ideology and party programmes. Little mention is made about how each of the platforms is better attuned to respond to the nagging challenges of the nation’s development. Shekarau, a known critic of the ruling party, has suddenly come to embrace it. If one may ask, what changes are there in the PDP that Shekarau has now found it a lesser evil than the APC? This poser is germane for us to properly situate the current gale of defections. It will also be of value in determining the nature and character of the two major parties when the dust must have settled.

    Shekarau seemed to have anticipated criticisms on the ideological dissonance in his move when he said it is not the “name of the party we choose that matters but what is important to us is the people we are going to work with in the interest of the common man”. Bafarawa equally touched on this when he argued that the objective of bringing change in society is “achievable in the PDP and that their entry could also transform the party”.

    In effect, they recognize that the party has its own problems but consider it safer to pitch their tent with it than their former one- a verity of one man’s meat being another man’s poison. They are entitled to their decisions.

    It would appear these defections are motivated more by self interest rather than commitment to higher national ideals. It is also a veiled admission that there is really no difference between both parties.

    What the parties eventually make of themselves will depend on the directional changes they come up with in the days ahead. It is possible that the new entrants and the current travails of the PDP could provide the ambience for the transformation of the party as Bafarawa has anticipated. It is also no less possible that things may not change that much.

    But what will be the fate of the likes of Shekarau and Bafarawa if nothing changes in their new party? And what if the defecting PDP governors come to the APC with those orientations and nuances that had been the undoing of their former party? Will the APC not suffer the fate of the PDP? After all, no less a person than Minister of Information, Labaran Maku had categorized them as troublemakers who are responsible for the problems in the PDP.

    These are the likely fallouts of these largely unprincipled and inchoate defections.

    Such dispositions cannot conduce for the emergence of parties that would at once, serve as alternative choices to the electorate. That seems to be the drawback in this largely unstructured and zero ideological promptings in the current defections.

    Those who defected from the PDP did so because they felt shunted out of the scheme of affairs of the party. It was also the logic of self-interest that forced both Bafarawa and Shekarau out of the party they founded. So let no body be deceived.

    Beyond these, what our people crave for is good governance and security of lives and property. Realignment into a strong two party system is good for the country. The message it sends to politicians very clearly is that it is no longer going to be business as usual. Sovereignty of the electorate as expressed at the ballot box must now begin to count as politicians will have to work for and earn their mandate. It is equally interesting that no discernable pattern in terms of ethno-religious divide is palpable in the direction of the defections. If Shekarau who is not known to share moderate religious views can pitch his tent with the PDP, then fears of unfolding competition sliding towards ethnic and religious lines should be considerably reduced.