Worried by the trend of defections from one political party to another by elected public office holders, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has called for “constitutional amendments that shall make it illegal for anyone elected on a particular political party platform to cross-carpet to another party while still in office.”
The CNPP in a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the umbrella association of all registered political parties and political associations in the country noted that “to deepen democracy, engender social justice and improve the confidence of the electorates in the democratic process.”
According to the statement, the CNPP queried, “how can the voters continue to have confidence in the electoral system and our democracy when people they entrusted to represent them abandon them halfway into their tenure for personal gains?
“Where is the place of ideology in politics? Is politics about personal interest above the interest of the people we hold power in trust on their behalf?”, the CNPP further asked.
The statement added that “for Nigeria to develop, her electoral process must be safeguarded and confidence of the people guaranteed to reduce voter apathy during periodic and rescheduled elections.
“At the least, it is immortal for a person duly elected on the platform of a political party to defect to another without first resigning. It is akin to robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“Nigeria must at this time begin to make conscious effort to promote politics of ideology for the lives of the masses to have a meaning.
“The national assembly should, therefore, use the opportunity provided by the current plan to further amend the 1999 constitution to outlaw the act of defection to any party while in office without first resigning as there is the urgent need to end the now irritating political prostitution in the country.
“We are all aware that the current trend of defections is about protecting one’s loots and scheming to take vintage position ahead of the forthcoming generation elections for mundane gains.
“Today, all that is required is for a corrupt politician to change party to either evade prosecution, end ongoing prosecution or to slow it down for a soft landing verdict.
“The world is watching and the current trend will further worsen the country’s position on the global corruption perception index and we can get this remedied during the ongoing constitution amendment process”, the CNPP observed.
This Magazine notes that in the past two years, three State Governors – Godwin Obaseki, Dave Umahi, and Ben Ayade of Edo, Ebonyi and Cross River State respectively – have decamped from their parties to another.
While the defection of Obaseki from the All Progressives Congress, APC, to the People’s Democratic Party, PDP was justifiable, having been inexplicably denied a second term ticket by the APC, both Umahi and Ayade could not convince most people on why they defected from the PDP to the APC
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