The rate at which politicians and political office holders are defecting from one political party to another in recent times is alarming.
The trend seems to call to question the place of ideology
By Wale Sadeeq
The rate at which politicians and political office holders are defecting from one political party to another in recent times is alarming.
The trend seems to call to question the place of ideology among the political class.
From the Senate through the House of Representatives to state houses of assembly and even among party chieftains, it appears like a season of defections, with each defector adducing reasons, whether genuine or frivolous, for ditching his/her political party for another.
First to announce his defection in the 10th National Assembly was Sen. Onyewuchi Ezenwa, representing Imo East Senatorial District.
Ezenwa, who got to the Senate on the platform of Labour Party, moved to APC, reportedly preparatory to contesting the governorship election in Imo.
Only recently, a member of the National Assembly, Sen. Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North Senatorial District, also resigned his membership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Nwoko highlighted the current state of PDP, including its internal crises and instability to justify his defection to APC.
The senator said that part of the reasons for dumping PDP was that the Delta Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori and a former governor of the state, Ifeanyi Okowa, did not give him space to function.
Indeed, Nwoko did not only leave PDP; in a correspondence read by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, he urged the upper legislative chamber to constitute an ad hoc committee to investigate the ongoing crisis within the party.
The senator, while addressing stakeholders and party supporters in Agbor, said that his defection was not for political interest, personal gains or electoral ambitions.
He said that he took the decision based on his desire to align with a platform that prioritises good governance, economic development and the overall welfare of the people of Delta North and Nigeria at large.
Other lawmakers, particularly from the House of Representatives, soon followed in the gale of defections that has hit the national legislature.
They included Chinedu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/Owerri West Federal Constituency) and Mathew Donatus from Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, who both moved from Labour Party to APC.
Others were Akiba Bassey (Calabar Municipal/Odukpani Federal Constituency of Cross River), Esosa Iyawe (Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo) and Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu.
Amos Magaji, representing Zangon/Kataf Federal Constituency of Kaduna State and Salisu Koko, representing Koko-Besse/Maiyama Federal Constituency of Kebbi State also ditched PDP for APC in the lower legislative chamber.
They all attributed their defections to the crises in their former political parties.
While their defections were celebrated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and many lawmakers, especially those from APC, their colleagues in the opposition parties cried foul, condemning their actions.
The Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, countered the defections, citing Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as prescribing the consequences for defection.
Chinda quoted the section as saying that once a lawmaker defects to another political party, such a lawmaker will lose his/her seat in the legislature.
His point of order was not only met with shouts of disapproval from many of his colleagues; he was also urged by the speaker to channel his point of order to the appropriate quarters in writing.
Also, a prominent pro-democracy activist and former senator, Shehu Sani and 49 other prominent politicians in Kaduna State, recently defected to APC.
Those who defected along with Sani were former Gov. Ramalan Yero and Sen. Suleiman Hunkuyi, the governorship candidate of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in the 2023 governorship election in the state.
Others were Sani Sha’aban, former Sen. Danjuma Laah, a former PDP National Organising Secretary, Abubakar Mustapha and a former Nigerian envoy to South Korea, Sule Buba.
Perhaps, one striking thing about the gale of defections was that virtually all the defectors moved from their respective former political parties to the ruling APC.
No wonder, former Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State derisively told the defectors that their actions were driven by stomach infrastructure.
Tambuwal, who spoke the North-West PDP national executive council (NEC) meeting held recently in Kaduna, said no politician with a conscience would join APC, said those defecting to the ruling party were driven by “stomach infrastructure”.
However in a swift reaction, APC said that Tambuwal, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, lacked the moral standing to attack those who have decided to pitch their tents with it.
APC Spokesperson, Felix Morka, in a reaction, described Tambuwal as a “notorious and vainglorious party defector” who should not be insulting those joining the ruling party.
According to Morka, the former Sokoto State governor’s “itinerant defections” from one party to another are also driven by “stomach infrastructure”.
Also, Osita Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), took on Tambuwal, saying that the wave of defection from PDP stemmed from the party’s breach of the president’s rotational arrangement and Section 7 of its constitution.
Okechukwu, a founding member of APC, also said that PDP members were leaving because the party had been ‘demobilised, irretrievably wrecked and ineffective’ in playing its traditional role as the main opposition party.
However, a Political Scientist, Prof. Abubakar Oladeji, described the rate of defections by politicians as a true reflection of their characters.
Oladeji, who is the Head, Political and Governance Policy Department, Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, likened many Nigerian politicians to fish which cannot survive outside water.
“Many of Nigerian politicians are the same; it is only their nomenclatures that distinguish them.
“A politician can wake up this morning as a member of APC and by evening, he is already in PDP,’’ he said.
According to the don, while the 1999 Constitution (as amended) allows elected public office holders to defect to other political parties if their parties have internal crisis, many of them cannot survive outside the ruling party.
To Dr Lawrence Odeh, there should be a stiffer law to check frequent defections, particularly by serving legislators in the nation’s state and national parliaments.
Odeh, of Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Benson Idahosa University, Benin, said the stringent measures, if put in place, would further help in strengthening the country’s democracy.
He said that the proposed law should mandate the legislative leadership, upon receiving the report of a member’s defection, to immediately set-up a committee to investigate the reasons stated for their defections.
“The committee is to find out if the reasons are in line with the constitutional provisions that permit defections.
“If the decision for cross-carpeting violates constitutional provisions, the law to be enacted should compel the legislative leader to immediately declare the seats of the defectors vacant.
“If effectively implemented, this approach will, in no small measure, restore the institutional deficit that has adversely affected Nigeria’s democratic consolidation,” Odeh said.
On his part, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, Executive Director of Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre, identified proportional representation and internal democracy within political parties as means of curbing frequent defections.
According to him, most Nigerian politicians have seen political parties as special purpose vehicles of getting to power.
Nwagwu said that many of them were not inclined to playing opposition because the system being operated in the country encouraged a winner-takes-all syndrome.
“The real issue is that our politicians are not wired to play opposition politics; the very few of them who have the capacity to do so have themselves become part of the ruling parties,’’ he said.
Corroborating Nwagwu’s view, the Executive Director, Organisation of Justice for Equity Sustenance, Mr Tunde Bafunsho, blamed frequent cross-carpeting on the politicians’ idea of winning elections at all cost.
Bafunsho said that Nigeria’s constitution also provided for free party membership and defection, particularly in case of crisis in any political party.
“The trend will continue due to the legal backing, freedom of association and economic challenges,” he said.
Dr Gabriel Nwambu, the Executive Director of Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness, however, called for promotion of ideological coherence and review of Electoral Act as panacea to frequent defections among politicians.
He said that with political ideology, each political party would be noted for a defined value which members would strictly adhere to.
Nwanbu called for a review of the Electoral Act to impose stricter penalties on defections without any justifiable reason.
A member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Nnamdi Ezechi, however, urged politicians to take a cue from President Bola Tinubu and maintain consistent ideology and party membership.
Ezechi, representing Ndokwa East/Ndokwa West and Ukwuani Federal Constituency of Delta, said Tinubu has been consistent in his political ideology and party membership since his early days in politics.
“The president has never moved from one party to another, unless the party either merged or changed name,” he said.
Consequent upon this, Prof. Vitalis Orikeze-Ajumbe, a former Chairman of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Imo, advised opposition political party members to remain in their respective parties for them to be viable and effective.
“There is nothing wrong for politicians in the opposition to remain in their political parties, no matter how long or the circumstances.
“It will make them viable and effective in their role as watchdogs than joining the ruling party,” he said.
The elder statesman blamed massive defection of politicians in opposition on gluttony and gullibility, urged them to shun all manner of political merchandise for a better and greater Nigeria.
Nonetheless, Mr Peter Ameh, the National Secretary of Conference of United Political Parties (CUPP), differed.
He said that frequent defections from one political party to the other could undermine multi-party democracy.
Ameh attributed the recurring phenomenon of defecting from one political party to another to lack of free and fair elections.
According to him, most of the politicians who defect to the ruling party often do so because they believe it will guarantee them electoral victory.
Ameh also described the issue of defection as a reflection of the lack of principles among politicians.
“When elected, officials defect to a party they previously contested against; it undermines the trust of their constituents and the integrity of the electoral process,” he said.
Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) addresses the issue of defections from one political party to the other by stipulating that legislators’ seats will be declared vacant if they defect from the party on which they were elected.
However, Section 109(2)(g) seems to have provided a leeway for defectors, as it invests the power to declare such seats vacant on the presiding officers of the legislature.
Analysts have described this as a major loophole, arguing that it will allow political parties to benefit from defections without consequences.
They, therefore, recommend that Section 109(2)(g) should be expunged from the constitution as a way of discouraging frequent defections.
Interestingly, the power to amend the constitution is vested in the national assembly, members of which are the major players in the defection saga, making such recommendation a mirage.
As the race for 2027 general elections begins to gather momentum, analysts appear unanimous in their opinions that politicians and elected officials will continue to hide under that particular section of the constitution to move from one party to another. (NANFeature)
