MEET FRANK OSHANUGOR
By Frank Oshanugor
The increasing incidence of defection from other political parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is obviously a sad commentary on the political culture of Nigeria and Nigerians.
At a time we ought to be celebrating the recorded stability of our democracy after the exit of the military some 26 years ago, our leaders are ignobly meshed in a warped democratic experiment that is fast orchestrating the destruction of every virtue in our political system and institutions of the state.
The announcement of the defection of fDelta State former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, his successor Sheriff Oborevwori, his deputy and commissioners to APC on Wednesday did not come as a surprise as the rumour mill had been peddling it in the past two months with Oborevwori himself, denying it.
With this declaration, it has finally been confirmed that no Nigerian politician can ever be trusted or relied upon.
The gale of defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP) and some sundry parties to the APC in recent time is a further confirmation that the party is a consortium of criminally minded politicians whose principal reason is to evade prosecution from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the need to selfishly join plundering of our nation’s resources through primitive accumulation.
During his days as the National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole had at a time beckoned on all those in PDP and other parties with corruption charges against them to join APC with a promise that their ‘sins’ would be forgiven as soon as they defected.
True to that declaration, the floodgate of defection came on the horizon with the likes of former Governor of Akwa Ibom (now Senate President) Godswill Akpabio who had corruption cases with EFCC dumping PDP for APC. Many others like one time governor of Abia State, Uzor Orji Kalu, one-time Delta State Chairman of PDP, Peter Nwaoboshi and many others joined in the defection regime.
Regrettably, our lawyers and the entire judiciary seem to have seen nothing and said nothing. This has ultimately led to cross carpeting from one political party to the other becoming the norm. Nobody seems to be mindful of the constitutional provisions that forbid arbitrary defection. And even in a few cases where the courts want to defend the constitution, powers that be, would rubbish the judgement and make it look as if no such judgement was ever made.
With the new trend of things which glaringly defines the emptiness of our democracy, one can safely conclude that Nigeria is slipping into dysfunctionality as arbitrary defection which can simply be described as political rascality has been upscaled as the new normal in the political space.
In the absence of any known political ideology on the part of APC other than squandering of national wealth through external borrowing and senseless spending, one begins to wonder what those rushing into the party are seeking for, if not their own share of the looting spree of the national wealth.
The gusto with which many of those who defected to APC in recent time had advertised their love and interest in the party they had once demonized in the past clearly defines such politicians as lacking in scruples. They are morally backrupt but pretend to be men on messiac mission to serve Nigerians.
As more defectors come into APC, it will not be surprising to see Nigeria as a one party state in the nearest future and it is only then, absolute dictatorship comparable to a military regime, would have become quite manifest in the corridors of power. Such dictatorship would certainly conceal the governance inefficiencies, corrupt tendencies and individualism that define the present administration.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has gotten all it takes to run a viable party government where opposition is an inbuilt mechanism that helps to check excesses of government, yet he has chosen to fan the embers of disorganized polity through warm embrace of arbitrary defectors. The end is near, I prophesy!
