Matawalle’s defection plot: Early walk to political grave

The signs are everywhere that Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State is set to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The recent creation of a faction within the PDP in Zamfara is seen as the last attempt to create an avenue for the governor to defect as every true member of the PDP in Zamfara knows there’s no such thing as a faction within the party.

If Matawalle’s plan to dump the PDP succeeds, however, it will go down in the political history of Nigeria as one of the worst cases of ingratitude and betrayal since the 1st Republic.

Though Nigeria has witnessed several cases of political realignments, which ended in change of platforms, most have been due to perceived injustice and lack of fairness. For instance, when Atiku Abubakar left the PDP in 2006 to join the ACN, it was because he knew that President Olusegun Obasanjo was hell-bent on not allowing him to contest the presidential primary or recently, when Governor Obaseki left the APC for the PDP.

But in the case of Matawalle, there is no compelling reason for him to leave the PDP other than for selfish interest.

The PDP has given Matawalle so much in his political life that one had expected him to remain eternally grateful to the party to the extent that he should be prepared to make sacrifices and put considerable efforts to build the party even if he notices lapses in how the party is run.

Less than two years after benefitting immensely from the PDP however, it appears that all the Zamfara Governor can think about is how to betray the party.

With this kind of attitude, it will be difficult for any political party to trust candidates again as so many of them have proven that they only need a platform to contest elections but do not share in the plans and manifestos of the parties.

The case of Matawalle is even more troubling considering all that the PDP had done for him starting from the governorship primary in which his major opponent Sahabi Ya’u was prevailed upon to step down.

Even as he was given the PDP ticket on a platter of gold, Matawalle did not add any value to the party as the PDP suffered terrible defeats in all the elections starting from the House of Assembly to the governorship.

But the PDP did not betray any feeling of disappointment in spite of the dismal performance and kept faith with Matawalle until the Supreme Court judgment held that the APC had no valid candidate in all the elections that held in Zamfara State.

For a party that has given Matawalle that much, it is the highest form of ingratitude for him to abandon it midway and on the cusp of another major election.

If the experience of the last elections is anything to go by, however, then he won’t go far as Matawalle is not cut out for the kind of schemes and subterfuges in the Zamfara APC.

Unlike in the PDP where he was handed over the ticket of the party on a platter of gold, this time he has to struggle with entrenched godfathers and deep pocket politicians to get the party’s ticket.

Even if the arrangement is to give him an automatic ticket, there is no guarantee that it will not be contested by the other power blocs within the party.

And if by chance the interests of these forces are not taken care of, there is no guarantee that they might not move to the opposition and serve the same dose of his medicine.

Musa Dangusau contributed this piece from Gusau