A Political Scientist, Prof. Abubakar Oladeji, has described the rate at which some politicians and political officers have been defecting from one political party to another recently as a true reflection of their characters.
Oladeji, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja, likened many Nigerian politicians to fish which cannot survive outside water.
“Many of Nigerian politicians are the same; it’s only their nomenclatures that distinguish them.
“A politician can wake up this morning as a member of All Progressives Congress (APC) and by evening, he is already in Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” he said.
He said that while the 1999 Constitution (as amended) allowed elected public office holders to defect to other political parties if their parties had internal crisis, many of them could not survive outside the ruling party.
“Once it is established that there is crisis in your party, you can move to another party. If anybody goes to court, as long as it is established that there is crisis in your party, you will win.
“But you will discover that many of them did not defect based on that, but because they want to continue to be politically-relevant.
“The gale of defection now is a reflection of the characters of the Nigerian politicians.
“Nigerian politicians are like fish inside water. Irrespective of the depth and the size of the water, fish must remain in the water; whether it is a dam, ocean or pond, it must remain in that water.
“Otherwise, it will be too much for them (politicians) to stay outside the water (ruling party) because the cost will be too much.
“The office is too attractive. So it will be difficult for them to now wait for another four years, which they are not even sure of,’’ he said.
According to him, what many politicians are doing is like looking for accommodation or structure that can make them to retain power.
“You also need to look at the manner of defection and who is orchestrating it.
“If Mr President or the national chairman of a political party is giving you the assurance to go ahead and join the party, forget about those people who are already on the queue.
“If you are a senator or a member of House of Representatives and you are moving from your former party to a new party, you are already a very strong force and all sides are with you.
“No political party will want to feed a candidate who will not give it victory in an election,’’ he said.
The don stated that some of the politicians, even after joining a new party and they realise that their political ambitions cannot be realised there, will quickly move to yet another party.
“That is to tell you about the character of an average Nigerian politician,’’ he said. (NAN)
