By Terese Tse
Defection has become a common political culture in Nigerian political history. It is common to see politicians criss-cross political parties, for their personal gains. In Nigeria, political platforms are reduced to mere pathways of actualizing political ambitions and personal aggrandizement.
Unlike in developed nations, in Nigeria, political parties seemingly have no ideologies upon which they are formed and as such, the players have no dignity and integrity to protect.
This ugly situation is usually heightened when election approaches. There are many instances in political history where members defect to other political parties at the slightest provocation without taking cognizance of the feelings of those who kept faith with them for so long.
In Benue state, a recent defection witnessed about five council ward chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Makurdi Local Government Area who defected to People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
The chairmen revealed that they left the party due to the unfulfilled promises of the APC.
The defectors are Jacob Pever (Bar Council ward), Joseph Tor (Walomayo), Jacob Audu (Modern Market), Clifford Orshio (Mbalagh) and Ibrahim Hassan of Central mission ward.
The Voice Politics further gathered that the chairmen’s defection was not for any attraction of political patronage as was being alleged by members of their former party, the APC. Their jumping ship, according to them, was to support Governor Samuel Ortom.
“Our defection is not financially motivated. We are fed up with the unfulfilled campaign promises of our old party, APC. APC is in the sixth year of its administration and still counting and we have nothing to show for it. Being leaders at grassroots levels, it is clear that we are closer to the local populace than any other politician.
“And these people are predominantly farmers but matters have reached a stage where they cannot access their farmlands because of the incessant attacks on them by herdsmen. So we don’t see why we will still remain in the party that has continued to give deaf ears to the yearnings of our people.
“As the 2023 general election approaches, you will have nothing to convince the electorate if you are still in the APC. It is on this note that we held series of meetings within ourselves and unanimously decided to join forces with our brother, Governor Samuel Ortom in PDP who is carrying out people-oriented projects scattered across the state, and has a dogged spirit to defend Benue people against Invaders.
“There is no progress in APC. The party does not even pretend to have the agenda of the people at heart and politics is overly about the people. So we jumped the ship to secure a place in PDP that is more organized.
“We were kept in the dark by leaders of the party. We were not even involved in the revalidation exercise of the party that was done in the first quarter of the year. We were dumped and forgotten completely. APC stakeholders are chiefly interested in themselves. This is what informed our hard but unregrettable resolve.
“And it may interest you to know that plans are under way for a mega defection rally for our teeming supporters who are ready and eager to defect to PDP anytime soon. APC has failed Nigeria and would never be trusted and given a chance to lead again,” the defectors affirmed in a statement.
In his reaction, the PDP chairman in Makurdi Local Government Council, Hon. Yunusa Adamu Garba said the defection was as a result of disillusionment with the present APC led administration.
“The defectors said they have lost confidence in the leadership of the country because of the insurmountable security challenges. The North Central is next to North East that is most hit and these new entrants are indigenous of Makurdi, one of the local governments in the state where the insecurity situation is most prevalent.
There is a general defection from APC to PDP across the nation and the common reasons are insecurity and poor economic situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Benue state APC Publicity Secretary, James Ornguga has said the ruling party is still in strong winning status in Makurdi Local Government, describing the defection of the ward chairmen as stage-managed.
“We are also aware of the interest expressed by PDP administration in Benue in capturing the Mbalagh APC ward chairman, who has long before now been lured into joining PDP with much promises, alongside a few others.
“Since 2019, Benue state has received thousands of PDP members willingly to APC fold and more are willing to join us, an action that has unsettled the PDP leading to their money-induced defection moves, just to get cheap publicity and distract the public from the shock of the governor’s appointees abandoning him for APC midway into his second term,” Ornguga.