APC: The Attraction of the Ugly Bride
Decamping, also known as Party Switching, Defecting and Cross-Carpeting, is not a new phenomenon. In the United States of America, in the 19th Century, it was a common occurrence. It simply means switching your allegiance from one political party to another. There could be several reasons for decamping, for instance, if a person’s political beliefs and views are no longer in consonance of that of the party, or to be able to gain power and influence, or simply to position yourself to stand a better chance to be elected on a surer political platform.
The Republican Party was formed in 1854 by a massive defection of Northern Democrats, Northern Members of the Whig, American and Free Soil Parties, while the Democrats arose from many Southern Whig Party defectors.
More recently, Ronald Reagan who later became the 40th President of the USA, defected from the Democratic to the Republican Party in 1962. Hillary Clinton left the Republican Party for the Democrats in 1968, while President Donald Trump left the Republican Party in 1999 to become an Independent in order to be a candidate for the Presidential elections. He returned and was subsequently elected as President of the USA, on the Republican platform in 2016.
No Political Ideology in Nigeria
In Nigeria, there exists no political ideology. Politicians believe in nothing; only to get elected at any cost; so decamping is common and easy. Usually, in Nigeria, what informs a person’s decision as to which political party to join, is the likelihood of winning elections and securing ‘juicy’ political appointments. It has absolutely nothing to do with beliefs, or whether they are conservatives, or liberals, or progressives and so on.
Since the advent of democracy in 1999, for example, in Lagos State, you stood a better chance of winning elections by being member of AD, later AC, and now APC (of course, with the blessing of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu), though the 2015 elections ushered in a few PDP surprises. Your political beliefs are an irrelevant non-issue.
Constitutional Provision
Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended in 2010) (Constitution) sets out the grounds whereby a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives, can defect from one political party to another. It provides that such a defector shall vacate his/her seat in either of the 2 Houses, if the defection to the other political party occurs before the expiration period for which he/she was elected. There is however, a proviso that, if the defection is a result of a division within the political party that sponsored him/her to the position, or his/her former party or faction of the broken party merges with another political party, he/she does not need to vacate the seat.
Defectors
I recall when the present Governor of Sokoto State, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, defected from PDP to APC in October, 2014, the Court declared at the time that PDP was not divided. Yet, he was not made to vacate his seat in accordance with Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution. There was a mad rush to APC around that time. I don’t recall anyone losing their seats.
In the past 3 months or so, Senator Yele Omogunwa, Senator Nelson Effiong and Honourable Hassan Saleh, have all defected from PDP to APC, obviously using Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution and the Makarfi/ Modu Sheriff saga as their reason.
Sinking Ship
Of course, we all know that the bottom line is that, Nigerian politicians do not like a sinking ship! They all saw that it was highly unlikely that PDP would win the elections with Goodluck Jonathan, and that the party had lost its grip and power. PDP seems to be in a downward spiral, and it is unlikely that these politicians can win the next elections on the PDP platform. Shi ke nan! (that’s that). It has nothing to do with any purported division. Self-preservation is the first law of nature.
Nigerian Politicians are Guided by Self-Interest
Now that Nigeria seems to be drifting towards almost a one-party State, as most of the other political parties do not have any significant grip on the electorate, it is sad that we seem to be reverting to business as usual. Why didn’t the defectors go and join KOWA or Labour Party? Why APC? With the numerous hourly complaints from Nigerians as to the state of the nation and their suffering on almost all dimensions, you would imagine that if these defectors really wanted to make a difference and alleviate the suffering of Nigerians, they would join political parties with better intentions than APC or form theirs. But no. Since APC is now the majority party, they are all running there, simply because of their own personal interests.
It is indeed worrisome that, at the end of the day, it will be the Nigerian people that will continue to suffer with these charlatans in power.
Role of the Courts
The courts should rise up. By now, Section 68(1)(g) should have been fully clarified with judicial precedent. The court should have set down proper conditions that constitute what it means for a party to be divided and so on, so that politicians cannot just jump from one party to the other at will, simply for their own benefit, and to the detriment of Nigerians, without facing any consequences.
"IN NIGERIA, THERE EXISTS NO POLITICAL IDEOLOGY. POLITICIANS BELIEVE IN NOTHING; ONLY TO GET ELECTED AT ANY COST; SO DECAMPING IS COMMON AND EASY"