ON THE 16 PDP MEMBERS OF THE DELTA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ALLEGED PLANS TO REMOVE SPEAKER AND DEFECT TO THE APC – TYPICAL OF DEVELOPMENTS THAT DRIFT NIGERIA INTO A ONE-PARTY DEMOCRACY
July 2, 2021 | News
When I recently received news that 16 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the Delta State House of Assembly have been allegedly invited to Abuja, to collect money and remove its House Speaker, and then decamp to Federal ruling All Peoples Congress (APC), my only thoughts were, whether this is true or not, it has become now a culture of some sort,
-By Zik Gbemre
ON THE 16 PDP MEMBERS OF THE DELTA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ALLEGED PLANS TO REMOVE SPEAKER AND DEFECT TO THE APC – TYPICAL OF DEVELOPMENTS THAT DRIFT NIGERIA INTO A ONE-PARTY DEMOCRACY
The APC ruling party has succeeded in making its party a Safe Haven for politicians with corrupt-tendencies and records. Hence, we see a lot of defections from the PDP and other parties to the APC, where all the corrupt-sins of politicians will be forgiven and swept under the carpet…
The quest to become the only party that every politician must belong to, is dangerous for our Nigerian-styled of democracy…
A situation where opportunities are not made available to other political parties and their members, especially in a supposed multi-party system of Government, is very dangerous and anti-democracy…
The ruling APC at the Federal level should not use its ‘Presidential Influence’ in a negative way by inducing and encouraging these unhealthy defections of politicians from other parties to theirs…they should rather encourage a level playing field for all…
When I recently received news that 16 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the Delta State House of Assembly have been allegedly invited to Abuja, to collect money and remove its House Speaker, and then decamp to Federal ruling All Peoples Congress (APC), my only thoughts were, whether this is true or not, it has become now a culture of some sort, for Nigerian politicians that are without bearings and focus, be moved by their greed to always be in the ruling party at the Federal level. Thereby, over the years, they have succeeded in making Nigeria look like a One-party system of Government.
I have never been comfortable that Nigeria is steadily being drifted to being a One-party democratic system of Government. I can remember when I noticed this during the PDP era at the Federal level, I warned the then PDP Federal Government not to make Nigeria a One-party system in their unhealthy quest to be the “Biggest Party in Africa.” I emphasized how this is dangerous for our democracy, and the nation’s political maturity and development. The PDP-led Federal Government then continued on this destructive path, until they lost out in the 2015 Presidential elections.
Sadly, that is the same thing that is happening right now with the APC-led Federal Government. In fact, the APC ruling party has succeeded in making its party a Safe Haven for politicians with corrupt-tendencies and records. Hence, we see a lot of Nigerian politicians defecting from the PDP and other parties to the APC, where all their corrupt-sins will be forgiven and swept under the carpet. In fact, “if any Political Thief shall defect to the APC, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
By this disposition, the ruling APC and its leaders have succeeded in swallowing all other political parties in Nigeria, as most politicians right now are willing to sell their birth rights and conscience just to belong to the APC. A situation where opportunities are not made available to other political parties and their members, especially in a supposed multi-party system of Government, is very dangerous and anti-democracy. We cannot say Nigeria is a multi-party system of government, with so many INEC-registered political parties, yet all we see, including the rest of the world, is a country that is predominantly run by one party, and which every OTHER POLITICIANS ARE GREATLY INFLUENCED to belong to as well.
Just on June 30,2021, Three Senators belonging to the PDP, resigned their membership of the party and defected to the APC. The lawmakers in three separate letters to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, attributed their resignation from the opposition party to supposed internal crisis, tyranny and leadership failure within the PDP. To me, this is another shameless defection, which only makes a big dent on the Nigerian democracy. In the US, even when some Republicans had disagreements with former President Donald Trump as the then president of the US, they didn’t dump their party for the Democrat. All of these defections and cross-carpeting doesn’t bring any good or development to the country. The defections are majorly for the wrong reasons. They should learn to remain in their party, address whatever differences they may have, and build their party. Rather than running about like infants.
Despite being a supposed democratic entity that has adopted the Presidential System of government similar to that of the United States of America (USA), Nigeria has however not been able to ensure that its citizenry enjoy the dividends and benefits of a democratic system. It is even more frustrating and disturbing when we consider the fact that Nigeria as a nation is blessed with overwhelming natural and human resources, yet the majority of the nation’s masses are wallowing in abject poverty and subhuman living conditions. This situation will continue to persist when there are no room for competing political opportunities.
Our Nigerian-styled of Presidential System of government, which I believe was deliberately structured to keep credible and integrity-driven Politicians away/out of their reach, so that ‘crooks’ would remain and be recycled by the ruling Party at the Center and within the country’s political space. Hence, our so-called Democracy and Presidential system of Government is no way similar to what we have in the USA (even if they keep trying to make us think otherwise). Our Nigerian-styled of Presidential system of government has created this ‘defective structure’ and anomaly of wastefulness of public funds to satisfy personal interests, and not the interest of the nation and the Nigerian people.
This unfortunate situation has kept Nigeria as a ‘developing nation’, in a rather ‘retrogressive path of development’ instead of moving ahead like its counterparts across the globe. There are so many things about the Nigerian-styled of Presidential system of Government driven by this ‘One-party’ ideology at the Centre, which are not helping us as a nation and as a people that really want to have credible political leaders in public offices that would assure the citizenry a taste of good governance.
Regardless of what has been happening, I consider it necessary to issue this advice and warning to all the leaders of the ruling APC, to stop this quest of ‘wanting it all’ and for everyone to belong to their party, and to start providing a level playing field to all politicians and Nigerians regardless of their party affiliations. Just the way the US Republican Party and Democrats Party have been healthily competing and respecting each other’s political ideologies, that is how the political parties in Nigeria should thrive. The ruling APC at the Federal level should not use its ‘Presidential Influence’ in a negative way by inducing and encouraging these unhealthy defections of politicians from other parties to theirs. A situation where APC members are seen to be above the law, is dangerous. The APC and PDP members are Nigerians, and should be given equal opportunities. What Nigerians need is equal opportunities and sustainable development.
Zik Gbemre.
July 2, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
-By Zik Gbemre
ON THE 16 PDP MEMBERS OF THE DELTA STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ALLEGED PLANS TO REMOVE SPEAKER AND DEFECT TO THE APC – TYPICAL OF DEVELOPMENTS THAT DRIFT NIGERIA INTO A ONE-PARTY DEMOCRACY
The APC ruling party has succeeded in making its party a Safe Haven for politicians with corrupt-tendencies and records. Hence, we see a lot of defections from the PDP and other parties to the APC, where all the corrupt-sins of politicians will be forgiven and swept under the carpet…
The quest to become the only party that every politician must belong to, is dangerous for our Nigerian-styled of democracy…
A situation where opportunities are not made available to other political parties and their members, especially in a supposed multi-party system of Government, is very dangerous and anti-democracy…
The ruling APC at the Federal level should not use its ‘Presidential Influence’ in a negative way by inducing and encouraging these unhealthy defections of politicians from other parties to theirs…they should rather encourage a level playing field for all…
When I recently received news that 16 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the Delta State House of Assembly have been allegedly invited to Abuja, to collect money and remove its House Speaker, and then decamp to Federal ruling All Peoples Congress (APC), my only thoughts were, whether this is true or not, it has become now a culture of some sort, for Nigerian politicians that are without bearings and focus, be moved by their greed to always be in the ruling party at the Federal level. Thereby, over the years, they have succeeded in making Nigeria look like a One-party system of Government.
I have never been comfortable that Nigeria is steadily being drifted to being a One-party democratic system of Government. I can remember when I noticed this during the PDP era at the Federal level, I warned the then PDP Federal Government not to make Nigeria a One-party system in their unhealthy quest to be the “Biggest Party in Africa.” I emphasized how this is dangerous for our democracy, and the nation’s political maturity and development. The PDP-led Federal Government then continued on this destructive path, until they lost out in the 2015 Presidential elections.
Sadly, that is the same thing that is happening right now with the APC-led Federal Government. In fact, the APC ruling party has succeeded in making its party a Safe Haven for politicians with corrupt-tendencies and records. Hence, we see a lot of Nigerian politicians defecting from the PDP and other parties to the APC, where all their corrupt-sins will be forgiven and swept under the carpet. In fact, “if any Political Thief shall defect to the APC, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
By this disposition, the ruling APC and its leaders have succeeded in swallowing all other political parties in Nigeria, as most politicians right now are willing to sell their birth rights and conscience just to belong to the APC. A situation where opportunities are not made available to other political parties and their members, especially in a supposed multi-party system of Government, is very dangerous and anti-democracy. We cannot say Nigeria is a multi-party system of government, with so many INEC-registered political parties, yet all we see, including the rest of the world, is a country that is predominantly run by one party, and which every OTHER POLITICIANS ARE GREATLY INFLUENCED to belong to as well.
Just on June 30,2021, Three Senators belonging to the PDP, resigned their membership of the party and defected to the APC. The lawmakers in three separate letters to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, attributed their resignation from the opposition party to supposed internal crisis, tyranny and leadership failure within the PDP. To me, this is another shameless defection, which only makes a big dent on the Nigerian democracy. In the US, even when some Republicans had disagreements with former President Donald Trump as the then president of the US, they didn’t dump their party for the Democrat. All of these defections and cross-carpeting doesn’t bring any good or development to the country. The defections are majorly for the wrong reasons. They should learn to remain in their party, address whatever differences they may have, and build their party. Rather than running about like infants.
Despite being a supposed democratic entity that has adopted the Presidential System of government similar to that of the United States of America (USA), Nigeria has however not been able to ensure that its citizenry enjoy the dividends and benefits of a democratic system. It is even more frustrating and disturbing when we consider the fact that Nigeria as a nation is blessed with overwhelming natural and human resources, yet the majority of the nation’s masses are wallowing in abject poverty and subhuman living conditions. This situation will continue to persist when there are no room for competing political opportunities.
Our Nigerian-styled of Presidential System of government, which I believe was deliberately structured to keep credible and integrity-driven Politicians away/out of their reach, so that ‘crooks’ would remain and be recycled by the ruling Party at the Center and within the country’s political space. Hence, our so-called Democracy and Presidential system of Government is no way similar to what we have in the USA (even if they keep trying to make us think otherwise). Our Nigerian-styled of Presidential system of government has created this ‘defective structure’ and anomaly of wastefulness of public funds to satisfy personal interests, and not the interest of the nation and the Nigerian people.
This unfortunate situation has kept Nigeria as a ‘developing nation’, in a rather ‘retrogressive path of development’ instead of moving ahead like its counterparts across the globe. There are so many things about the Nigerian-styled of Presidential system of Government driven by this ‘One-party’ ideology at the Centre, which are not helping us as a nation and as a people that really want to have credible political leaders in public offices that would assure the citizenry a taste of good governance.
Regardless of what has been happening, I consider it necessary to issue this advice and warning to all the leaders of the ruling APC, to stop this quest of ‘wanting it all’ and for everyone to belong to their party, and to start providing a level playing field to all politicians and Nigerians regardless of their party affiliations. Just the way the US Republican Party and Democrats Party have been healthily competing and respecting each other’s political ideologies, that is how the political parties in Nigeria should thrive. The ruling APC at the Federal level should not use its ‘Presidential Influence’ in a negative way by inducing and encouraging these unhealthy defections of politicians from other parties to theirs. A situation where APC members are seen to be above the law, is dangerous. The APC and PDP members are Nigerians, and should be given equal opportunities. What Nigerians need is equal opportunities and sustainable development.
Zik Gbemre.
July 2, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes