Date: 2016-10-21

With the 2019 general elections still far away, it may be incorrect to believe that politics should be shoved aside especially in a game where interests dictate pace and rhythm. AHMED 'LATEEF reports on the defection of some stalwarts of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ijagbo on Saturday.

One thing that has remained constant in life is change. As it happens in every sphere of life so also in politics. However, the dynamics of politics is presumably predictable.

Anywhere in the world, calculation is what make politics thick, and determines the strength and clout of whoever that joins the fray. And another factor that revolves around the complexity of politics is interest. There is no way the game is played without interest as central focus. Thus, it is an unassailable fact that when one interest is threatened in a political setting particularly in this clime, opportunity is abound to seek tenancy elsewhere.

For Nigeria politics, it is not uncommon to witness daily political cross-carpeting among office holders and non-office holders even in spite of series of threats issued by leadership of political parties in the past, to either recall in the case of an office holder or apply stiffer sanctions to serve as deterrent. Such has not deterred any of them since there has never been precedents or political scapegoats.

What appears to be a phenomenon in politics is interest, and possibly cashing on the same platform to feather own nest when a door of opulence is widely opened. It is therefore not written in the political dictionary in this part of the world that deflection is a sin. In other climes, it might be seen not only as antithetical to the party on whose platform one secured victory but a sheer rebellion against one's party.

And because politics in this clime has not pegged the number of times one can cross from party to another, politicians especially those with ambitions will never allow their dreams to perish. The implication is if one's ambition is not realized in one party on account of differences, the second party may come to the rescue.

Some memorable scenarios played out in the 2015 general elections and became watershed in the political annals of Nigeria. Some politicians who felt their ambitions were threatened in the ruling party opted for the then opposition and went to realise the ambition. One among other instances is the incumbent Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom.

Ortom, a former Minister of Industry, resigned as a member of the Federal Executive Council with the intention of contesting the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his home state. Although he made up his mind to secure the ticket but for party leadership, such ambition was a mere figment of imagination.

As a man of destiny, he left the ruling party and joined the then opposition APC. As fate would have it, he secured the ticket and won the governorship seat in what pundits believed to be a titanic battle in the history of Benue.

That cross-carpeting, defection and deflection as case may be in politics is part and parcel of political processes in Nigeria, is no longer news. What seems to be news is the motive behind such transition.

In Kwara State for instance, serious politicking for 2019 has not begun, but members of the political class see opportunity in inevitability. It therefore presupposes that if one's ambition lives within the realm of fantasy, using available opportunity to realize it may not be categorized as desperate move.

This is also coupled with the uniqueness of politics in the state that sees those in opposition as lightweights and daydreamers who can only eye seat of power from afar.

Even in 2015 general elections when opposition PDP threatened to oust the incumbent government of the APC owing to the power of incumbency at the Federal level, the difference in Kwara politics became apparent and the party in power was re-elected.

Except for its Thursdays programme on a federal radio station domiciled in the state, the platform for which it uses to criticize government policies and programmes, the opposition seems to have gone to sleep after the last elections.

However, despite parading itself as a major opposition with its ceaseless quest to wrest power in subsequent elections in the state, the PDP fold depleted further on Saturday in Ijagbo, Oyun Local Government Area of the state.

Ijagbo is next neighbour to Offa town. Though it stands as a ward in the political outlook of Oyun Local Government Area, the town is a factor to reckon with when it comes to the political processes of the council. Among other prominent towns in the state, Ijagbo is also placed at vantage position as a town blessed with human and material resources. In it are successful business men and women, seasoned bureaucrats, private individuals and public office holders who have continued to project the ancient town positively in their areas of calling.

History was therefore made in that town on Saturday when hundreds of PDP stalwarts, members and supporters trooped out to formally denounce their membership and loyalty to the party and pitched tent with the ruling APC.

The defection came barely three weeks to the composition of the Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) across the 16 local government areas of the state when the tenure of the incumbent chairmen expired.

A member of the State House of Assembly for Oke-Ogun Constituency of Oyun Local Government Area, Barrister Kamaldeen Oyekunle Fagbemi, received the defectors at a brief but colourful ceremony within the precinct of the Palace of Onijagbo of Ijagbo.

He said the deflection of the opposition supporters into the ruling party was an indication of the leadership quality embedded in the political family of the state.

Fagbemi, who is chairman Committee on Judiciary, Public Petitions and Privileges in the State House of Assembly, explained that the decampees are remnants of the PDP who refused to join the APC when the state political leadership opted for the party in the wake of the irreconcilable differences in the former ruling PDP.

Fagbemi noted that the APC in the state is being administered by the people of proven integrity and always ready to bring succour to the less privileged.

He said the deflection of the former opposition members signals that the PDP has become empty shell and admonished others still in the opposition to join hands with the government of the day.

The lawmaker assured that the defectors would be accorded equal opportunity and treatment like existing party members in order to give them sense of belonging.

"The decampees are from the PDP. They are those that refused to follow us to the APC. During the 2015 general elections, they were solidly behind the PDP. But one thing that has remained constant in our mind is that one day, they will come back. They are now back.

"In Kwara, we belong to one political family. And in line with party policies, we want members and loyalty. Here in Kwara, we don't belong to any political party but we belong to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, and anywhere he goes, we remain foot soldiers there.

"The fact is that there is nothing left in the PDP. They (opposition) can see the performance of the APC in Kwara and even within the constituency that I represent. They (decampees) are here to complement us, we have advised and talked to them that we would not regret their coming and they would not regret their own coming too.

"I want to urge the people of my constituency to continue to maintain peace and support the government of the day. There are lot of goodies that are yet to come, and surely, they will come", Fagbemi assured.

Speaking on behalf of the decampees, a former Caretaker Chairman in Oyun Local Government Area, Engineer Makanjuola Ibrahim, who led the decampees, said they were enthralled by the leadership quality in the ruling party, which has prioritized the welfare of the citizenry in spite of the current financial difficulties.

He promised that the decampees would team up with the party to ensure that more beneficial programmes and projects are delivered to the masses.

Whether this recent defection or deflection, whatever it is called in the political dictionary will stop, only time will tell.