Since the result of the recent Presidential and National Assembly elections confirmed the victory of All Progressives Congress (APC), there has been endless reports of top politicians defecting from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other parties to APC. Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports
Before the March 28 presidential election that returned General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and also saw the opposition party positioned as the next majority party in the National Assembly, following the victory of most of its candidates across the country, Nigerians have yearned for change.
Ironically, the people of Africa’s most populous country didn’t just want a change in the presidency or at the National Assembly; there was a widespread yearning for a change of the ruling party at the helms of affairs at the center and numerous states. Thus, the campaigns were not just about the candidates, they were also largely about the political parties.
And as the two leading political parties, the opposition APC and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) struggled in the months leading to the historic election, many analysts predicted a tough election. Expectedly, the election was a close one. Many people were quick to put the victory of the APC down to the commitment of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to a free, fair and credible election.
“APC’s victory, though not unforeseen, came as a pleasant surprise to many Nigerians. While we were sure the opposition party was best positioned to win the presidential election, we never for once lost sight of factors like rigging and other malpractices that could turn the table,” Ade Ajayi of the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), said.
The lawyer cum human rights activist was quick to add that with the March 28 election, INEC and indeed Nigerians sent a serious warning to politicians that henceforth, the people would decide who rules them. “It became clear to all and sundry that the peoples’ vote can also count here in Nigeria. Now politicians are conscious of what they do and who they are associated with,” Ajayi added.
With the presidential and National Assembly elections decided, a new vista was promptly opened in the history of Nigerian politics. As if they’ve been waiting on cue for APC’s victory, prominent PDP chieftains started dumping the party in droves. And their new political destination turned out to be nowhere else than the same APC they derided and maligned for months ahead of the March 28 elections.
These defection craze amongst PDP chieftains, according to Ajayi, confirms that a new political era may have dawned on the country. “Now everybody wants to be on the side of the people. The same people they have joined others to exploit for years. The defections are a sign of the new order and should not come to any serious political analyst as a surprise. But it sure calls for serious reflections by both parties and Nigerians as well,” he said.
Party leaders, current elected public office holders, political appointees, former aspirants and even newly elected public office holders on the platform of the PDP all found one reason or the other to desert President Goodluck Jonathan’s party barely a week after his loss at the polls. And analysts say the party’s loss in the March 28 presidential election triggered the defections.
Heavyweight defectors
Last Tuesday, while the PDP was still putting its acts together to respond to the many high profile defections that had trailed its loss, news filtered in from Plateau State about a mass defection of its prominent members into the APC.
Among those who defected were Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun; Senator Victor Lar; and the state deputy governor, Ambassador Ignatius Longjan.
Their defection introduced a new dimension into the string of losses being suffered by the ruling party.
Also, there are talk that a former minister and former deputy governor of Plateau State, Pauline Tallen; Mr. Jimmy Cheto and Chief Jethro Akun have concluded plans to move to the APC ahead of yesterday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections.
In Edo State, the PDP candidate in the 2012 governorship election, Maj- Gen. Charles Arhiavbere, was received into the APC on Tuesday by Governor Adams Oshiomhole after he announced his defection at the weekend.
Also, a former governor, Prof. Osarhiemen Osunbor and former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Idada Ikponmwen, announced their defection to the APC. Osunbor, who was governor from May 2007 to November 2008, declared for APC with his supporters at Iruekpen, Esan West Local Government Area.
Same day, Jigawa State Deputy Governor, Ahmed Mahmoud, led other defectors at a ceremony in his home town Gumel. Mahmoud along with a Special Adviser to Governor Sule Lamido, Alhaji Bello Dansokoto; the immediate past Executive Chairman, Dutse Capital Development Authority, Alhaji Bashir Aminu, and the immediate past Chairman of Gumel Local Government Council, Alhaji Ya’u Kura, defected, taking with them thousands of supporters.
Mahmoud becomes the third deputy governor to leave the PDP for the APC – after Niger State Deputy Governor Ahmed Ibeto and Ondo State Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi. Former Governor Saminu Turaki also defected to the APC. He was joined on the defection train by Senator Muhammad Dudu. Dudu represented Jigawa North-East Senatorial District between 1999 and 2007.
Also, Gombe State House of Assembly Majority Leader, Mamman Alkali, joined hundreds of others who left the ruling PDP for the APC in the state. The defectors included over 50 Special and Personal Assistants to Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo.
In Ogun State, candidate of the PDP for the House of Representatives, Ijebu Central Federal Constituency, Otunba (Barr.) Adewale Moses Osinubi, renounced the party that offered him its platform to contest the last election and defected to the APC.
Also, switching his allegiance to the ruling party in the state same day as Osinubi but from another political party, was the Ogun East Senatorial aspirant on the platform of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Prince Kayode Tejuoso. The two were received by Governor Ibikunle Amosun.
In Benue, former military governor of Kaduna and Katsina states, Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd), led others, including Dr. Mathias Oyigeya, former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship aspirant in Benue State, Chief Agbo Oga, former Chief of Staff to Senate President-David Mark, Chief Mike Iduma, Major Lawrence Ugbo (rtd), former PDP state chairmen, and Barrister Peter Ochijele, a former member of the Benue State Executive Council, into the APC last Wednesday.
From Kwara State on Wednesday came the news that a former governorship aspirant of the PDP in Kwara State, Senator Gbemisola Saraki and PDP’s youth leader in the state, Chief Segun Olawoyin, also dumped their party and joined the APC.
Kaduna PDP also lost chieftains to the APC during the week. Prominent among the defectors are Maj-Gen. S.B.S. Biliyock (rtd); a former member of House of Representatives, Ruth Jummai Ango and former Commissioner and Attorney-General Zakari A. Sogfa.
From Niger State, former Secretary to the State Government, Adams Erena, also pulled out with 5,000 critical stakeholders in the PDP to the APC. The new APC members include a member of the state House of Assembly, former commissioners, local government chairmen and former PDP grassroots leaders.
Right or wrong?
While the country remains agog with news of these defections alongside various calculations and permutations ahead of the inauguration of the new government on May 29, 2015, reactions continue to trail the post March 28 defections.
According to Barrister Brian Agu of the Voters’ Right Agenda (VRA), defection is a common norm in politics the world over. The legal practitioner says the gale of defection, rather than create anxiety, should be viewed as a sign confirming the position of the Nigerian voters that there was need for change.
“It is no big deal. It is a good omen. Anywhere the people use their voting card to effect change; you will see politicians struggling to align with the new order established by the people through the ballot boxes. This is what we have been preaching at VRA. It is a sign that power now truly belongs to the people.
What you are witnessing here is currently happening in Britain. The rise of UK Independent Party (UKIP) as a political party shows that the people are angry and politicians must change. Everywhere you go in Britain, if you ask the people why they are supporting the new party, they say “We need a political party that helps deprived areas, builds more houses and takes the question of the UK’s role in Europe seriously.”
And every day, politicians, even members of parliament are decamping into the party from leading political parties like the Conservative and the Labour Parties. Why? UKIP wants to leave the European Union. The people also want nothing to do with the Union. It is a simple, understandable message, which has led to the party gaining bigger and bigger support in European elections, culminating in it topping the vote in May this year.
It is about the people setting political agenda for politicians to obey if they want to remain in politics. APC wants to end corruption. Nigerians also want to end corruption. So every politician who doesn’t want to be termed as corrupt is not willing to remain in the opposition when APC takes over government next May. This is the major reason for the surge,” Agu explained to The Nation.
But former Police Commissioner in Lagos State, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, is not impressed by the sudden love being shown the APC by notable PDP chieftains across the country. According to him, the ongoing mass defections from the embattled ruling party to the opposition winning party, should be of grave concern to discerning Nigerians.
“The mass defection to APC is dangerous and should be a matter of grave concern and need bother all persons of honesty and good conscience. Most of these defectors are like feathers that can be blown towards any direction by the wind. They have no ideology.
“In civilized countries being used as examples, defections are about ideologies and convictions. It is not so here. What we are witnessing is a struggle for survival by defeated politicians. While British politicians will shift camp based on ideological convictions, our politicians are decamping just to remain relevant.
“I am not saying all those who joined APC are the same. We had some true defectors and heroes of change like Admiral Murtala Nyako, Governors Kwankwaso, Wamako, Amaechi etc. Some were in the struggle but chickened out as a result of treachery and cowardice. Some of them are falling back into APC today. Those are the ones we must be cautious of. Some Nigerian politicians are mercenaries and money mongers. Many of these defectors are unreliable and slippery,” Tsav said.
On his own part, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, wondered what those who have left the ruling party in the last few days after losing the presidential election would teach their children in terms of morals.
He said, “It is right for anyone to defect or move because the Constitution allows for free association. But basically, it is immoral for someone to leave his party because we lost the presidential election few days ago.
“It is about the character. Yes, you have the constitutional right to move or defect, but what lesson do you want to teach your children?
“Just because we have lost the presidential election? Yes, we want members (in our party) but not fiddle-minded people. We want people who are committed, but the fair weather people are free to leave us. Those who are committed will still be with us,” he said.
Emeka Asinugo, a London-based journalist and political analyst, would want the defectors to give the need for a robust opposition a thought as they scramble for places in the APC ahead of the May 29 handing over date.
“It is in their nature that in their anxiety for a brighter economic future, so many politicians are now crossing carpet to the APC, the party that would be in charge in the near future. These flexible politicians should not forget that it is a responsible opposition that makes a government work satisfactorily, and politics mean well. For any government to succeed, it will need a responsible opposition to criticise it. The new Buhari-led government cannot possibly have the responsible opposition it will need to succeed if every politician begins to run away from his or her original party because it failed to clinch the presidential election. That is the danger in defecting to the winning party. A responsible opposition party (the PDP) is still very much relevant in the dispensation of legitimacy and in the nation building efforts of its successor. Simply put, the politicians who defected from PDP should go back there. They will be of better use in building the nation from their original party than jumping into APC bandwagon, hoping that Buhari would spill them with oil money from Aso Rock,” Asinugo opined.
Tsav would also want the APC to handle the defectors with caution because, according to him, “serial decampees are not true politicians. They are like bees which can only be seen where there is honey.”
“People who just yesterday said APC was a Boko Haram party are today falling on one another to declare for APC. These people have no ideological conscience and need not be taken seriously. They are only interested in what they can have for themselves. They are traitors. They destroyed PDP and milked the nation dry. They want to do the same to APC,” Tsav feared.
