The recent saga of the defection of Governor David Umahi of Ebony State to the All Progressives Congress (APC) should rekindle the debate on the so-called “cross-carpeting” in Nigerian politics. Switching of political parties in Nigeria is not something new. In 1951, some members of the Nigerian Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) defected to the Action Group led by Obafemi Awolowo. The move was a calculated attempt to deprive Nnamdi Azikiwe and the NCNC of having the majority in the Western Regional House of Assembly at the time. It was believed that the move was birthed by the ethnic tension in the NCNC and an attempt by one ethnic group to resist what was perceived as ‘foreign domination’ by another although this has sometimes been dismissed as a misconception. Nevertheless, it set the stage for the kind of political manoeuvring that continues to dominate Nigeria`s political landscape.
Because of the political tension and instability that was often associated with inter-party defections, there was a strong demand for the government to weigh in. Section 68 of the 1999 constitution, for instance, makes it clear that a member of the Senate or House of Representatives who got elected on the platform of one party cannot defect to another party before the expiration of the term for which that member was elected. The only condition where it might be acceptable is if the defection is as a result of an internal squabble or a split or merger. This clause, in effect, nullifies the law for the simple reason that inter-party defections are almost always the result of internal divisions, splits, or mergers.
Politicians sometimes become disgruntled with their party for ideological reasons and seek to leave. The decision to switch to another party can also be made to further personal interests as is often the case when one candidate fails to secure nomination under one party and switches to another to boost their chances.
It is true that inter-party defections occur even in advanced democracies like the United States and the UK but there are sharp contrasts. Both former Republican president, Ronald Reagan, and Democratic presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, have switched parties once during their careers. While Reagan started as a Democrat, he later switched to the Republican Party, declaring,” I did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.” The same is true for Clinton who went on to become a Democratic senator despite her affiliation to the Republican Party in her early years.
There is, however, almost no similarity between these two examples and the chaotic defections that occur in Nigeria. Both Clinton and Reagan had not held any political office before switching parties. In fact, it would be several years after switching party allegiance before either of them would be elected.
The same is also true for Democratic senator, Elizabeth Warren, who was a registered Republican for 5 years before switching sides in 1996. She claimed the reason for the switch was because she felt that the Republican Party was “no longer principled in its conservative approach to economics and the markets.” And, just like Clinton and Reagan, it would be well over a decade before Warren would be elected to the US senate as a Democrat. Indeed, examples of politicians switching parties in recent times while holding an elected position is hard to find in the United States.
The case of Nigeria`s former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, is quite remarkable. In order to further his presidential ambition, and possibly as a result of not receiving the blessings of the president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to run for president under the People`s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar decided to switch to the Action Congress and was able to secure nomination for the 2007 election.
This was a watershed moment in Nigerian politics. For the first time, the president and vice president were members of different parties. The president, however, did not take this ‘act of betrayal’ kindly. He announced that he had dismissed the vice president and that the office had become vacant.
In a letter to the senate president, speaker of the house of representatives, and the attorney general of the federation, Atiku Abubakar claimed “the president was not entitled to remove his deputy who was elected with him by the Nigerian people”. He further stated that the only course of action open to the president was to table the matter before the National Assembly or to seek ‘clarification’ from ‘a competent court of law.’ The Action Congress also echoed the same sentiment, declaring the dismissal of the vice president as unconstitutional and an act of tyranny.
On the 20th of April 2007, the case reached the Supreme Court. This was after an appeal court had ruled that it was unconstitutional for the vice president to be dismissed on the grounds of having defected to the opposition party. The appeal court also held that the vice president could not be deemed to have resigned because he switched parties, and therefore restored him to office.
Although the Supreme Court ruled that the president lacked the powers to dismiss his vice for any reason, it raised significant points on the conduct of the vice president. The court held that the constitution envisaged a harmonious relationship between the president and the vice that ought to be maintained throughout the tenure, noting that there was no separate election for the vice president who, in the first place, was nominated by the president from the same political party.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court insisted that while the action of the vice president did not violate the constitution, it was unconscionable for Atiku Abubakar to openly criticise the government, campaign for another political party, or switch parties. This, however, did not mean, from the court`s perspective, that the vice president was slave to the president and could not voice his opinions even if they did differ from those of the president.
This landmark decision reached by the court in 2007 has continued to create ripple effects in Nigerian politics till today and might have set a dangerous precedent for wanton inter-party defections in the country. Indeed, it is no longer uncommon for politicians to switch parties soon after winning elections. The case of Imo state where a significant number of PDP lawmakers quickly defected to the APC as soon as the PDP Governor was sacked by the Supreme Court and replaced with Hope Uzodinmma of the APC is quite instructive.
The situation is even more disturbing when one takes a look at what transpired in Edo State over the last 4 years. The present governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, was elected in 2016 on the platform of the APC after a fierce battle with Ize Iyamu, the governorship candidate of the PDP. One thing most people remember from the 2016 campaign was that the PDP sought to undermine the candidacy of Godwin Obaseki by filing a bogus lawsuit of certificate forgery that sought to disqualify him.
The move came after Obaseki claimed that some of his hitherto missing credentials had been discovered in the United States by relatives. The PDP chairman in the state even challenged Obaseki to take to any of the media outlets in the state to showcase the certificates but the governor’s campaign team responded that such measures were unnecessary. And in any case, the agenda of the PDP in filing the lawsuit failed to materialize as Obaseki was eventually elected the governor of the state.
However, in the build up to the 2020 election, Governor Obaseki found himself at loggerheads with the “kingmakers” of the APC. And in a bid to ensure his re-election after being disqualified by the APC`s screening committee, he defected to the PDP.
In a rare feat of political gymnastics, the APC accused the governor of certificate forgery and filed lawsuits seeking to disqualify him. It might have been quite amusing to the people of Edo state to find that the APC was fielding Ize Iyamu against the governor: both candidates had switched parties. This kind of fluid switching suggests that Nigerian politicians are not bound by any discernible ideologies in the same manner the parties are not founded along ideological lines.
This is what can be deduced from the case of Atiku Abubakar. The former vice president returned to the PDP after failing to clinch the presidency on the platform of the Action Congress in 2007. His “second coming”, however, was fruitless as he lost the PDP primaries to eventual winner of the 2011 presidential election, Goodluck Jonathan. In typical Atiku fashion, he abandoned the party again in 2014 to join the APC in a bid to bolster his chances in the 2015 race. But he told the BBC that his defection was not borne out of his desire to become president, it was part of his wish to “see a strong second party for the country”. What then are Nigerians to make of his switching back to the PDP as the 2019 presidential election approached?
Just like Atiku Abubakar and other defectors in time past, Governor David Umahi, the most recent high-profile defector in the country, has assured all that he did not defect to advance any personal interests even as rumours swirl that he is aiming for the 2023 APC presidential ticket. He claimed his defection from the PDP was a “protest against the injustice being done to the South-East zone by the PDP.” The injustice, he said, was that the PDP had never “considered the South-East Zone to run for president”. The governor also claimed that his political career was ‘God`s project’ and that he had become some sort of martyr by leading the crusade against the injustice in the PDP.
Umahi’s defection, as expected, triggered strong reactions. First, some members of his cabinet resigned in protest, feeling confused and betrayed. Some felt he had been ungrateful to the party while others believed his action could harm the South-East. The governor of Rivers state, for instance, claimed that the defection of Umahi had the potential to destroy the South-East politically, while alleging that Umahi also practiced the same injustice he accuses the PDP of: placing his brothers in key positions in the party.
The PDP in its official statement refrained from attacking the governor. Instead, the party thanked him for his services and wished him well for the future but also made sure to point out that his defection was for personal reasons that “Nigerians would later realize.”
Of course, the news of Umahi`s defection was cheered in some quarters. His deputy hailed the move and stated during the ‘defection ceremony’ that he was a faithful disciple who would stand with his boss on whatever decision he made. President Buhari did not also hesitate to commend Umahi for the “bold move driven purely by principle rather than opportunistic motives”. He acknowledged that the governor might be ridiculed but pointed out that was part of the price “men of principles have to pay for acting according to their conscience and convictions”. The president also noted that the defection would herald a new dawn for Nigeria`s democracy as “voters will be more motivated by the records of parties and their candidates”, even though it is not quite clear what he meant.
Regardless of what one thinks of Umahi`s defection, it must be said that political parties are not to be vehicles that advance the selfish interests of politicians. Parties should have a clear vision of the nation that they seek to build, visions that are hinged on a clear set of economic, political, social, and moral ideologies.
Political parties should be distinct from one another based on the ideologies they profess. If political parties in Nigeria are structured in this manner and strong institutions prevent the advancement of the selfish interests of politicians, it is possible to have the rate of inter-party defections minimized since ‘political prostitutes’ such as Atiku Abubakar and most recently, David Umahi could easily lose credibility. The United States has set a good example in this regard and Nigeria must follow.