Other than the news of unceasing escalation of the security situation in the North-Eastern region being perpetuated by the dastard insurgents, with scores killed and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) rising every hour, the Speaker’s defection has also been trending, featuring prominently in the front burner of political discourse within the polity. Understandably, while the APC are the happier out of the two political parties in this particular situation, as the number four most important citizen and office now belongs to their fold, the ruling party has been in a dysphoric state ever since Hon. Tambuwal declared his defection.
Undoubtedly, the ruling party has been rattled by his action, evident in their agitations and furore to unseat the speaker at all cost. The resultant effect is the “atypical manner” in which the Speaker’s security details have been withdrawn by the police, citing a constitutional provision – Section 68 (1) (g); however, perusing the provision doesn’t enable or authorize the Nigerian police force to perform the supposed initiative they took. This act in itself by the police is unconstitutional, therefore illegal.
One would have thought the duty of the police is to enforce the law of the land (as explicitly stated in the constitution), and not play the convenient role of assuming the functions of the judiciary to interpret laws. By virtue of the position and office of Speaker of the House of Representatives should by law be attached with security details (likewise the office of the Presidency, the vice and Senate president), irrespective of the individual holding the office or party affiliation. The act of the police withdrawing the Speakers security detail should not have happened under any circumstance.
Its not unexpected that there is such a hullabaloo over Hon. Tambuwal’s defection. Its not unexpected that the Speakers defection would further heat up the polity in light of the fact that Nigeria is just a couple of months away from an overemotional and potentially volatile election.
Hon. Tambuwal is alledged to be strategizing to become governor of his home state of Sokoto. If so, his move from the PDP to the APC is not surprising considering the fact that, presently APC appears to be the more dominant party in Sokoto.
Evidently, since the return to civil democratic rule in 1999, political defection in the country has become a fundamental phenomenon and regular occurrence of the political system in the country.
Politicians have decamped from one party to another. Cross-carpeting has dotted the political landscape within the country, which cuts across all the major political parties in the country. Without doubt, politicians have the right and freedom to move from one party to another or change their party allegiances.
Another major trend within the political landscape of our polity is that most politicians more often than not cry foul when a member of their party decamps to another party, but welcome with open arms members of another party who defects to theirs. An exemplification of this scenario was what played out with the defection of Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, to the PDP, who was elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2012 for a second tenure under the platform of the Labour Party (LP).
Similarly, the APC persecuted the likes of Nuhu Ribadu and Co. when they decamped to the PDP, but hailed the defection of members of the House of Representatives from the PDP into their rank and file, which bolstered their numbers in the lower legislative chamber. This current trend in the political arena cut’s across all political parties as they all are culpable in this regard.
However, what is good or bad for the goose is also good for the gander. As long as cross-carpeting is good for one political party, then it should be good for all the parties.
Undoubtedly, the precipitating factor for this current trend is the lack of ideological commitments to any political party by some politicians and the non-existent clear-cut political ideologies of political parties in the country. In the US for instance, the
Democratic Party generally represents liberal ideals, while the Republican Party commonly represents conservative ideals. In Germany, the ruling Christian emocratic Union (CDU) is known for its liberal conservatism, and economic liberalism and are referred to as Christian democrats, the main opposition, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is known to be social democrats with a definitive ideology called “Third Way”, which is a position that tries to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. However, in our political landscape, there is a conspicuous absence of such ideologies. Most politicians connections to their parties are largely based on inordinate ambition for political offices because of the gains attached to such positions, than the services they are supposed to render to the teeming citizenry. Political parties are increasingly becoming mere veritable platforms whereby some politicians ascribe to in a bid to get political power or be elected into public office, hence, the current spate of cross-carpeting by politicians within the country.
As the 2015 general elections approaches, the quest for relevance appears to be the driving force behind the plethora of cross-carpeting currently practiced by many within the country. This is not the kind of legacy our founding fathers and first republic leaders, such as Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo, who were guided by ideologies with which they laid the foundation for the development of their regions and Nigeria at large, left for us to emulate. What is largely obtainable now is the politics of convenience and inordinate ambition by some of our political elites. As long as there is an absence of definite political ideologies, like what is obtainable in other politically developed climes, the norm of cross-carpeting, defections and decampments will continue to exist, as some politicians would seek different veritable political platforms in order to position themselves for relevance come 2015 or any other election moving forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment