From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, was recently blunt in reminding Nigerian politicians that one of his biggest takeaways in the recently concluded Ghana presidential and legislative elections was how their counterparts in Ghana resisted moving from one political party to the other. The implication is that in Ghana, politicians to a large extent still have principles and play politics of ideology.

Yakubu, while enumerating the lessons he learnt from monitoring the election, tactfully commended the resoluteness of Ghanaian politicians in remaining unwavering with their political parties, emphasising that such an attitude is worthy of emulation.

Although he did not specifically reference Nigerian politicians in his observation, the electoral umpire boss had particularly applauded the blind loyalties of Ghanaian politicians in remaining very loyal to their parties whether in opposition or in power, insinuating that it has been a case of for better and for worse.

Yakubu emphasised that; “rarely in Ghana do you see people moving from one party to another with every general election. So, that is important. It provides stability. It also provides their supporters (with) stability.

“So, there are people who have supported their political parties for many years. And, whether the party is in power or opposition, they stick to the political party.”

Yakubu’s allusion to Ghanaian politicians in his observation, from all intent and purpose, might be an indirect indictment of Nigerian politicians that impatiently defected from one political party to the other, as it favours them, during every election season.

Obviously, it won’t sound strange to any politically exposed Nigerian that the avalanche of politicians that have defected, crossed, and crisscrossed from one political party to the other in an attempt to feather their nests, has been unprecedented.

In the current fourth republic, many critics have expressed deep concerns that the menace of defections and defecting has actually assumed an epidemic proportion capable of posing a serious threat to Nigeria’s democracy if there are no deliberate measures to curtail it soon.

In a legendary fashion, Nigeria may hold a bad record in the world as the country with the highest rate of politicians defecting from one political party to the other, especially during new democratic dispensation.

The blind could see and the deaf also hear of the unprecedented high rate of defection Nigerian politicians usually record during every election season and how parties even use the defection of a high-profile politician as a campaign stunt by jubilantly parading the harvested pockets of other party members that ridiculously defected.

The popular expression in the Nigerian political palace has always been, ‘show me that Nigerian politicians that never jumped from the opposition party to the ruling party and vice versa and only a few politicians will not be counted.’

From the appointive and elective officials to the legislators at the National and State Assemblies where cross-carpeting has become most astounding, there have been very insignificant numbers of politicians who have remained resolutely dedicated to one party in their entire political journey and trajectory.

In fact, as ridiculous as it might sound, incidents of politicians moving between the two main political parties in this current republic, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), bore eloquent testimony of the embarrassing political prostitution of Nigerian politicians.

“For an average Nigerian politician, it has been obviously a politics of selfish interests than strict adherence to political ideologies,” a chieftain of a major political party told Daily Sun in confidence, explaining; “you can count the number of Nigerian politicians that have remained steadfast with one party through thick and thin in their entire political journey.

“It has been a case of remaining loyal when it favours them and jumping the ship when the tide turns unfavourably against them. For an average Nigerian politician, for better or worse is only in marriage not in politics. Movement becomes imminent once the tide turns against them,” the chieftain added.

In reality, nothing could have been more evidenced or further from the truth about the defection attitude of Nigerian politicians than the fact that most leaders and chieftains of the opposition party are now members and even leaders of the ruling party and vice versa.

A typical example is the fact that the current National Chairman of the APC, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was once not only a staunch chieftain of the PDP but has also served as the Deputy Governor of Kano State for eight years under the PDP umbrella.

And in case it did not sink down well with doubters, the PDP candidate for the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, perhaps, holds the record as one of the highest ranking political leaders and office holders, with the highest rate and instances of defections from one party to the other.

In retrospect, Atiku served as vice president under the PDP umbrella for eight years, and then defected to the Action Congress (AC) to contest the 2007 presidential election when he fell out with his principal, Olusegun Obasanjo, who denied him the PDP presidential ticket, in favour of late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

He later left the AC to join the APC after the merger of political parties and had a very short spell with the ruling party before re-joining the PDP in 2019, where he won the presidential primary to contest as the candidate of the opposition party.

Curiously, he is again, speculated to be deeply involved in the attempt by many alleged disgruntled politicians planning to float a super mega political force that will give the ruling APC a big run for their money during the forthcoming 2027 presidential election.

The list of heavyweight Nigerian politicians reputed for moving from the opposition party to the ruling party and vice versa in their political trajectory can definitely make a very long list.

From former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who was under the PDP protective umbrella for eight years as the governor of Kwara State and with the APC while he served as the National Assembly leader for four years holding a broom, to Samuel Ortom who superintended over Benue State as governor for eight years under two political party platforms, PDP and APC.

The current Senate President, Godswill Akpabio is another classical example of a Nigerian political figure that equally benefitted from jumping from the opposition party to the ruling party, first as the governor of Akwa-Ibom State for eight years under the PDP and now in his current exalted position as head of the National Assembly under the APC.

The list may be incomplete without the inclusion of the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, who defected from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to the APC where he actualised his presidential ambition at the fourth attempt.

Also on the list was the speculated dramatic involvement of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the purchase of APC expression of interest and nomination forms for the 2023 presidential election through proxies.

However, the statement absolving Jonathan of any complicity in the whole speculation read that; “he was not aware of this bid and did not authorise it. We want to state that if the former president wanted to contest an election, he would make his intentions clear to the public and would not enter through the back door.”

But, in the words of APC National Organising Secretary, Suleiman Argungu, Jonathan, and Godwin Emefiele, purchasing the APC nomination form was his most astounding of the 2023 presidential election.

According to him; “those that surprised me picking our nomination form were about two or three aspirants. The first one was former president, Jonathan. He did because I felt that somebody who has risen through such ranks, having worked with us as deputy governor, became the governor, the vice president and then won the president, would attract the question of what he forgot at the State House Villa that he wants to go back and pick.

“Yes, most of them did not personally purchase the forms because their representatives or groups came, but nobody will just go and buy forms for him without consulting and confirming whether he was interested or not, especially the amount of money involved, N100 million and other expenses they incurred during the processes of buying the forms because they came in a large group.

“The second person who picked forms that really surprised me was former CBN governor, Emefiele. I felt that by the Electoral Act, civil servants will not just declare interest to contest for president, especially as there is stipulated time frame he must resign.”

As the APC Organising Secretary noted, it is still baffling to many Nigerians how his political cronies would contribute such humongous staggering sums of N100 million to purchase the APC’s nomination forms and reluctantly refuse to return the forms perhaps due to wide public criticisms without his endorsement of it.

Interestingly, one factor many critics of the 2023 presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, tend to hold against him is also his movement from one party to the other.

Obi’s journey started with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as governor of Anambra State and with the PDP where he contested as vice presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar during the 2019 general election before settling understandably with the LP to contest the last presidential election.

Certain other figures with high political profiles like Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) 2023 presidential candidate, governed Kano State for eight years under the PDP, and equally had a short spell with the APC.

If the movement of the high-profile politicians signposted the degrading attitude of Nigerian politicians, the unbecoming shameful attitude of the serving members of the House of Representatives, especially under the platform of LP that defected to other parties recently was more offensive.

After standing on the shoulders and riding on Peter Obi’s crest wave during the 2023 general election to triumph victoriously, the politically mobile Reps members suddenly realised that defecting to other political parties holds a brighter future for them.

Expectedly, the defected lawmakers will always justify their movements with a thousand and one reasons by hinging it mostly on leadership crises within their party.

For instance, many of them usually state in their letters that they; “find it difficult to align with LP’s position on current issues,” arguing further that the party’s internal conflicts have made it difficult to align with any faction, hindering their ability to deliver effective representation.

“You cannot just work on the decision of the people at the constituency level because you are dealing with people with different levels of understanding. This decision is based on conviction. That is why, whether you like it or not, there are people within the constituency  convinced that defection is the right decision for them. Some are skeptical waiting for the outcome.”

But, the effects of the gale of defections seemed to be more precarious in Rivers State where a greater percentage of lawmakers that dumped the PDP to join the APC, are holding the state to ransom as warring factions loyal to the incumbent governor, Sim Fubara and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, have continued to be at each other’s jaguar.

Unfortunately, despite the legal constraints against defection, which stipulated that if an elected official, sponsored by a political party to the Assembly, decides to defect to another party, his seat must be declared vacant, the administrative conundrum has always been a cog in the wheel of implementation of the law.

The reason perhaps is the caveat in Section 109(2g) of the Constitution which empowered the presiding officers in the National and State Assemblies to declare the defectors’ seats vacant, for the simple reason that no presiding officer wants to deprive his party the opportunity to have more members.

At the peak of the debate, many pundits have attributed the high rate of defections to the failure of the political class’s character, a confirmation of disloyalty to the electorate that gave them the mandate and the party that gave them the tickets.

Regrettably, there is no sign of the spate of defection abating because while LP still nurses the wound the defection of its members at the National Assembly inflicted on it, the party’s governorship candidates, especially in the last Bayelsa State election, Udengs Eradiri, his running mate, Commodore Benjamin Nathus (retd) and their supporters massively resigned from the party.

Regardless of Nigerian politicians’ reasons to defend their decision to defect from one party to the other, it is incontrovertible that the majority are based on selfishness, political greed, and desperation for the party’s ticket and power struggle.

Cases are bound where many of them would contest under a popular political platform, fail to pick the ticket, and hurriedly join a lesser party just to, desperately, actualise their inordinate political ambitions.       

In his condemnations of the gale of defections, Peter Ameh, Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), blamed it on the deepening high rate of money politics in the country’s democratic experiment.

He suggested a drastic review of the relevant portions of the Constitution to make it more stringent and automatic that the moment any elected officeholder defects to another party, the seat is already deemed vacant by the decision of the defector.

Analysing the root cause of increasing epidemic of defections, Ameh argued that; “there has been deepening spate of money politics in our democratic system which has shaped the way people reasoned and perceived political party participation.

“The manifesto defining the party’s ideologies has been sacrificed to the dogs. Money politics now drive elections and more importantly, the law on campaign financing has not been effective because INEC has been overburdened with other electoral activities,” he contended.

On the pragmatic solution, he suggested that; “to get it right, we need to review the relevant portions of the constitution to make it more stringent and automatic that as soon as any elected official defects to another party, the seat has already become vacant by the decision of the defector.

“Smaller political parties cannot continue to be feeder pillars to bigger parties through defections. Unfortunately, the system has also weakened the ability of political parties to discipline elected officers involved in defection because as soon as they write a letter to them to inform them that they are going astray they will threaten to leave the party.”