Is Nigeria Becoming A One-Party State?

By Bolanle BOLAWOLE

“There is the saying, to wit, an elder running in the afternoon: if he is not pursuing something, something is pursuing him”.

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As was wont our practice, we rubbed minds as those of us who were friends and aides sat at table with Governor Ayodele Fayose at Osuntokun House, as the Ekiti State Government House, Ado-Ekiti, was called. Contributing to a discussion, I said: “Politics is the art or science of serving the public interest”. 

Fayose, sitting at the head of the table, cut in sharply and said, “No Sir! Politics is a game of self-interest.” We argued but His Excellency maintained his stand. “Excuse me, Sir; no public sent me into politics. I came into politics on my own volition”, he added.

Whenever Fayose begins by saying “Excuse me, Sir”, know that he is already agitated or deeply animated by the topic of discussion. No public drafted him into politics. No public raised the funds for him. No public suffered the ups and downs with him. He maneuvered his way through by himself. Oh! The trials, the tribulations and the challenges! 

What of his kangaroo impeachment whereby the then President Olusegun Obasanjo haunted him out of office? He escaped by the whiskers – in the boot of a “jalopy” car! His travails in exile; his trial and how he eventually was exonerated. The betrayals and how he plotted his way back into office!

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“Excuse me, Sir, the politics you just defined is the one you learnt in the university. The real politics that I am talking about is “igboro” politics – the politics we practice in the street”. We could not agree before we moved on to other matters! 

Recall that towards the end of his tenure in 2018, the EFCC began a campaign of calumny against Fayose who, as the last man standing, had been a thorn in the flesh of the then President Muhammadu Buhari. EFCC alleged that the governor had perfected plans to flee the country and escape trial on alleged corruption charges. 

Although international flight tickets allegedly purchased by him for the purpose were published, Fayose boldly asserted that he had no plans to flee but that he would turn himself over to the EFCC once his tenure ends.

In his dramatic fashion of doing things, Fayose printed T-Shirts and face caps with the inscription; “EFCC, here I come!” and true to his words, he presented himself to the EFCC at their Abuja office. I followed him there, together with bus loads of other friends and aides. 

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At the gate leading to the EFCC office, only the then Rivers state Gov. Nyesome Wike and Mike Ozekhome, SAN (Fayose’s lawyer) were allowed inside the EFCC fortress with the governor. The rest of us were asked to go back.

It was a hell of a time restraining one of Fayose’s brothers who heckled the EFCC without restraint. Fayose had to shout at him to calm down. It baffles me, then, that the same brother appears as the one recently accusing Fayose on social media of not helping him while he (Fayose) was in office. Anyway, that is not my purpose here today!

As Fayose was stepping into the EFCC fortress, he cast a glance in my direction and giggled! I clearly understood the coded message! Which public was there to face the fire with him? When he was charged to court in Lagos and was remanded at the Ikoyi prisons, I also went there several times to visit him as well as attend court in company with his Chief Press Secretary, Idowu Adelusi, and his assistant, Wahab Adesina.

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On my first trip there, we sat in the office of the Assistant Comptroller-General and threw banters until it was some minutes to 6 pm when the Oga came and said, “Your Excellency, it is time for you to go inside” I didn’t know when I blurted out, ‘Go inside where? You mean you will go inside that place?” 

There were hordes of half-naked men in their hundreds in a small space not up to a quarter of a football field. Fayose smiled as he packed his bag and stood up. Tears welled in my eyes as he made for the iron gate.

 It was Fayose himself who comforted me: “BB, don’t cry. It is because you are a godly man that you even followed me here. What did I give you when we were in Ekiti? Where are my family members here now? Where are those who took all the big, big jobs?” And he began to name names. Where is this person? And where is that person? He then reminded me of our argument about what politics is! In a sense, Fayose was right!

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Self-interests, not national or public interests

Our Constitution is also partly to blame. Section 40 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended) states thus: “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests…” 

The operative words are “for the protection of his interests.” Not national interests. Not public interests. Here, the Constitution allows politicians to aggregate or belong to political parties to pursue, advance, promote, and protect their own personal interests.

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Therefore, the overriding principle of political association is the promotion of the individual interests of the individual politician. So, if, this morning, a party is in a position to advance your interest, you belong to it. If, by the evening, the permutations change and it is another party that is in the position to better serve your interest, you move into that party. 

Rather than blame politicians for playing harlotry, we should amend the Constitution and block the loopholes that allow for such.           

Cross-carpeting is age-old!

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The defection of the entire PDP political structure in Delta State into the APC has raised new concerns about carpet-crossing, which is as old as the democratic experience in the country. 

The first misconceived case of carpet-crossing took place in the Western Region House of Assembly in 1951 when the NCNC, led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, thought it had won more seats in that year’s regional election than the Action Group led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, but on election day on the floor of the House, the AG torpedoed the NCNC, thereby leading to the AG leader, Awolowo, becoming the first premier of the region. Ever since, defection has been a recurring decimal in the country’s political landscape.

Here, again, the Constitution is to blame in that it is not firm enough in discouraging defection but leaves enough loopholes for defectors to exploit. For instance, Section 187 (1) (b) and 187 (3) which provide that a governor who defects from his party within three years of his election will have his seat declared vacant however allowed a leeway: provided the defecting governor can prove that his defection was not for the purpose of personal gain! 

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Tell me, what does that mean, if not allowing a loophole for politicians, lawyers and judges to fly on? Hence the controversy that this section continues to generate: While some say it is too broad and liable to divergent interpretations, others say it is too narrow and not straight to the point.

The same thing can also be said of Section 68 (1) (g) which addresses defection of any member of the National Assembly and Section 109 (1) (g) for any state House of Assembly member who “becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.” 

Had it stopped there, it would have been clear and unambiguous but ambiguity was deliberately, I believe, introduced when the same provision adds: “Provided that his membership of the latter party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored…” So, what it takes is for a defector to prove that there is crisis or factionalisation in his party, which is so easy to contrive.

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Learning from other climes

Is the PDP factionalised? Five of its governors broke ranks in the 2023 elections and voted against their own presidential candidate. The party is also said to be discussing a merger with some other parties. 

While some of its leaders are said to be in favour, others have said, “Count us out!” Maybe we should borrow a leaf from countries which minced no words while proscribing defection. 

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In countries like India, Malawi, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Seychelles, Singapore, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe, not only is defection outlawed, standing or voting against your party in parliament results in automatic expulsion from your office.  

Defection has many fathers

Other reasons why we are witnessing a gale of defection include the fact that there is nowadays no ideological content in our political parties, unlike in the first and second Republics. All the parties that we have now promote the same capitalist ideology. They are different fingers of the same leprous hand. So anyone in any of the parties easily fits into another. 

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The last time a serious attempt was made at giving some ideological underpinning to party formation here was during Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s SDP (a little to the Left) and NRC (a little to the Right) era. In the ongoing Fourth Republic, the Alliance for Democracy was the last half-hearted attempt at ideological sloganeering which crumbled the moment it was pushed into obscurity by the emergent political machinery of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The fear of EFCC…

Apart from Delta state, other states said to be warming up to decamp into the APC include Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Kano, Enugu and still counting! Why? Our people have a saying: When you see an elder running in the afternoon, if he is not pursuing something, something is pursuing him! Some governors are defecting because they are pursuing a second term in 2027 or whenever. Others are defecting because their past – and the past of their godfathers – is pursuing them. For many of our politicians, the fear of EFCC is the beginning of wisdom. Don’t mind their denials!

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Errant brides, beware: Promiscuous APC is on the prowl!

The JAPA syndrome afflicting opposition parties is also fuelled by the humongous amount of money that President Tinubu’s twin-policy of fuel subsidy removal and deregulation of forex now places on the laps of governors every month. Governors have never had it this good. 

Whatever anyone may say, President Tinubu is an irresistible suitor to many of our politicians. So, like my sister, Funke Egbemode, has warned: Errant brides, beware! Promiscuous APC is on the prowl! Tell me, which governor or legislator will not want the ongoing partying to continue? Politicians are having a swell time even though the populace is having a hell of a time.

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Is a one-party state in the offing?

Are we, then, moving towards a one-party state? My take is that we have always operated one, albeit one that masquerades as multi-party democracy but which is now coming out more forcefully into the open as it divests itself of its disguises. 

Vibrant opposition is not just about noise-making – which social media can amptly help us with – but involves placing before the country sound alternative programmes and policies and galvanizing the populace to put the government on its toes – and to change it if change becomes inevitable.

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That has been lacking with an effete opposition unable to do the minimum of keeping its own house in order. And a house divided against itself.

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