As the 2019general elections approaches, Nigerian politicians are moving
camps, divorcingand marrying new political suitors and erecting new shades
to ply theirpolitical trade. Defection, the choice name for this seasonal
movement ofcamps, is at its peak period presently and this is so because
the 2019 electionis just around the corner. For politicians, this is a
critical moment whentheir fates in the coming election are decided. How
well the parties meet one’shope and desire informs whether he stays or
moves camp. There is no more tothis than this unceasing foraging for
greener political pastures. The gale ofdefection is here again! Not that
it had stopped before now but this is the seasonsfor it; when a fresh
election knocks at the door and politicians take stock andprospect to the
future. Applying football terms, this is the peak of thetransfer window.
Nothing is wrong with this because it is embodied in thefreedom of
association which is an essential provision of our laws.
So,defection is a normal trend in politics so long as man is a restless
politicalanimal and yearns for the appropriate space to ventilate his
nuances. InNigeria, defection is a seasonal fad and peaks as election
approaches. It is ahabitual search for the right clime to realise one’s
dreams and ambition and solong as Nigeria is packed full with politicians
who are desperately looking forgreener pastures, defection will always
happen. Make no mistake about it, thereis nothing absolutely wrong with
defection. There is nothing wrong withshifting base in the never-ending
search for political nests where one’s dreamscould be realized. There is
nothing wrong in seeking out and joining anypolitical party that promises
you the fulfilment of your political dreams. Sodefection will always
happen in Nigeria if we are still practicing democracyand there is nothing
one can do about it.
In politics,interests are fixated but avenues to achieve those interests
are fluid. Inpolitics, there are no permanent friends or enemies, as the
regular aphorismgoes. In Nigerian politics in particular, the line that
separates onepolitician from the other is so thin that some politicians
have practicallytraversed all political parties in a bid to satisfy their
burning interests. Inmoving from one political party to the other, they
make new friends with whomthey cohabit and work with for the period they
remain in those parties. So ifwe agree that there are no permanent friends
or foes, seasonal movement fromone camp to the other is a tolerable aspect
of our politics. So defection is achoice and hugely overused part of our
politics. There is nothing one can doabout it than to hope to benefit from
it the next time for there will always bea next thing with defection.
But then, ashas been well canvassed, defection becomes a problem if the
defector takesalong with him the office he occupies by virtue of belonging
to his formerparty. In Nigeria, political offices belong to parties, not
individuals.Political parties are the ones that canvass for votes and are
the ones thatappear on the ballot during elections so it should be an
article of honour andcompulsion for politicians moving from one camp to
the other to resign from theoffices they occupy before joining another
political party. That should be therule. That should be the ideal. That
should be the proper thing to do. But thatis not the case in Nigeria where
the issues have been deliberately muddled upto create a diktat that
unjustly favour these defecting politicians and the newparties where they
berth and rob the parties they are defecting from. Thisamounts to robbing
Peter to pay Paul. It is another way of one eating his cakeand having it.
That has been the problem with defection in Nigeria which hascreated so
much bad blood around this practice and further introduced wear andtear in
the politics practiced in Nigeria.
Of what theNigerian law says about this, it states that the only reason
politicians cantake their offices to their new destinations is where there
exists a divisionin the party that necessitates the politicians’ departure
from his party. Sowhat most of the politicians and their cohorts seeking
to leave any party do isto create a façade of division and leave with
their offices. Even where thereare no divisions, they still keep their
offices in the face of the weakness ofthe law and the judicial system to
do the needful. In the long run, the lawthat recommends that a defecting
politician leaves behind his office has becomea toothless bull dog that
has hardly survived the antics of politicians.
In thepresent dispensation, the seed for the reigning fad of politicians
defectingwith their offices was sown when Senators Wahab Dosunmu and
Adeseye Ogunleweabandoned the AD party platform on which they were elected
to the Senate tojoin PDP shortly after the 1999 elections. Every effort
made by the then AD toretrieve their mandates were stifled by the PDP
which was basking in theeuphoria of its commanding control of the
post-military politics then. Manymore senators and House of Assembly
members were to follow and they wereabsorbed by the willing arms of PDP
who mocked all attempts to stick to the lawand prevent defectors from
leaving with their parties’ mandates. It got worseas the PDP waxed
immunity from all constitutional efforts to make it play fair.With its
strengthened control of the democratic system in its 16 years, PDPeven
went further to create division within the smaller parties and
harvestingthe aftermaths; defectors, officers, warts and all to its
burgeoning family.
But nothinglasts forever. PDP was to be fed a dose of its medicine when
some of itsgovernors, dissatisfied with the internal impunity within the
party, revoltedand left its fold with their offices to join the fledgling
APC which was anewly formed coalition of opposition parties commented to
dislodging theoctopoidal PDP from power in 2015. APC was to emerge
victorious in the ensuinggeneral election and PDP’s 16 years was brought
to an end.
As the nextgeneral elections approach, some of those that left PDP to join
APC startedwaxing displeased about how they were treated in APC and just
few weeks ago,left to re-join PDP. They left with their offices, among
which is the SenatePresidency, even in the face of APC’s threat to reclaim
the office. Whateverpans out eventually is left to the imagination but the
bottom line is that thecountry’s electoral and judicial systems must find
ways of fixing the aberrationof defecting office holders taking their
offices with them when they areleaving the parties that sponsored them to
power. Settling this issue will dealwith some ugly fallout of such outcome
which may eventually harm the system.There is no moral right a defector
has to rob the party he is defecting from ofits due right, which is the
office he was occupying and vesting it unduly tothe party he is defecting
to. Good enough the Supreme Court had decided thatoffices belong to
political parties and not individuals. The benefits of fixingthis issue is
that no one party claims the benefits as all are affected by its noxious
impacts sincedefection is a game of musical chairs that has no fixed
location. It moves incircles to afflict those that benefit from this
unjust aspect at the next galeof defections.
So there isevery imperative for a just provision of our laws to be made to
ensure that noone leaves a party for another with the office he or she
occupies. At worst,such offices should be declared vacant to allow a fresh
contest. There isnothing right about taking one party’s office to another
party. The resolutionof this issue is a win-win for everybody as it
preserves the integrity of thepeople as the ultimate decider of who
occupies one office or the other at anygiven time. It will ensure a
cleaner and credible playing field, help thesmaller parties to grow and
most importantly, it will tame the inclination ofpoliticians to
continually shift camps to whichever side their bread isselfishly
buttered.
Peter ClaverOparah