NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE DEFFICIENT OF POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES.

EVERY POLITICIAN YOU KNOW IN NIGERIA THAT (CROSS-CARPETED) DECAMPED FROM ONE PARTY TO ANOTHER IS FANTASTICALLY CORRUPT.

JUST LIKE THE SAYING GOES, WHEN DINNING WITH THE DEVIL USE A LONG SPOON, I WANT NIGERIANS TO KNOW THAT ALL THOSE DECAMPEES CANNOT BE TRUSTED. THREAD CAUTIOUSLY WITH THEM IN ANYTHING YOU DO, FOR THEY ARE PART OF DEMOCRACIES BIGGEST PROBLEMS.

Long before the return of democracy, Nigerian politicians had been known to hold no scruples when it came to dumping a political party to which they had once sworn allegiance. Indeed, for our politicians, the saying that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies but permanent interest is a truism. Since the First Republic, when the first mass defection occurred, politicians have been known to ditch their parties so long as their interest is no longer served.

With the recent defections that have hit the PDP, it appears our politicians have still not learnt the democratic principles of party allegiance as it obtains in advanced democracies. I have often wondered at the rate our politicians switch party allegiance without giving a thought to democratic values that demand loyalty to party ideology. How can the country build the values inherent in a democracy when politicians switch political parties at the drop of a hat and when it suits their personal and group agenda?

One had also thought that our politicians would realize the importance of growing a sustainable party culture. But soon after the elections, the PDP began to crumble with massive defections of its members.

In spite of the shortcomings of the PDP, one would have thought that a party that had been in power for that long would have become an institution. But the party has failed to institutionalize. For most of the 16 years in power, the party was built around individuals who were more powerful than it. For these influential party members, the party was only a tool to achieve their political ambitions. At the state level, the governors, for example, controlled all the levers of power. It is thus not surprising that the party began to crumble as soon as the powerful individuals left the party

Sadly, some politicians who are facing corruption charges in court are now defecting to the APC. Some of them can also not imagine a situation where they would be in political oblivion for the next four years. There is also a sense in which one sees these defections as a way of seeking protection. This argument feeds into the widespread belief that defecting to the ruling party protects a politician from prosecution if they have been indicted of corruption. 

The argument to support this is that there are many politicians in the APC today who have been indicted of corruption but are walking free. Unless the APC debunks the claim and wipes its fold clean, the revelation does the party no good.

Accepting allegedly corrupt politicians who defect to swell its ranks also puts a question mark on the party’s change mantra. As the country continues to evolve a democratic culture, our politicians must observe democratic norms of building strong political parties as a bulwark against arbitrariness and bad governance.

 For our democracy to strive, we need an enduring and strong opposition party that is not built around individuals to provide the needed checks to the party in power. I believe there must also be sanctions for politicians who engage in defections as they have become an embarrassment to our polity.

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