The Politics of Carpet Crossing

There are so many things about the Nigerian politics that keep you rather amused and sometimes keep you disturbed and wondering what type of people the politicians are made of.

We have seen the level of brazenness and tugry easily exhibited in the polity, we have seen the level of insincerity and the artistry displayed in the act of deception perpetrated against the electorate. We have also seen the attitude of winner takes all in which the opposing party looses every thing while the winner gallivant with the glamour and goodies of office to exclusion of the other party.

One aspect that is really amusing and yet worrying is the politics of carpet crossing (Decamping as it now called)Carpet crossing is not really new in Nigerian politics. In the first republic carpet crossing occured in Parliament in the defunct western region. Such defection was however based on principle and not on other narrow minded and self seeking considerations

Now when some politicians fail to get nominated by their party, the option on the table is to decamp to another party to seek nomination again regardless of the political ideology of such a party.
This situation also occurs when the party looses in an election. In this type of situation the decampees are usually in droves. Instead of sitting together and look for ways of strengthening their party for the next election, they will abandon the party for the ruling party so as to partake in the action. Safe for a few, they are never patient to reposition their party for future elections.

Presently this phenomenon is taking place as I write; Politicians decamping from the people Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC). This is disturbing in some ways.

First, the APC which was formed by like-minded politicians was based on a well articulated ideology that runs sharply against those of the PDP. Now members of the PDP are gradually decamping to pollute the APC. The APC need to watch out as I see trouble looming in the horizon for them.

Another view is that the opposition to APC, which is very essential for the maturity of the Nigerian politics is gradually being weakened by the action of these decamped. Hence we may start to witness a situation when the ruling party does what it likes with Nigerians without virile opposition.

Definitely this situation is not good for Nigerian politics. Those who engage in this type of cheap politics should desist from doing so. Discouraging this may be by way of putting appropriate laws in place to check it and also by enforcing intra party discipline.

We are also aware that most politicians are not really going into politics to serve the people but rather to serve their personal interests. The incentive that propels this is the ease to get cheap money occasioned by the leakages within the government’s financial system. Blocking these leakages could be a way to discourage these self-serving politicians from engaging in cross carpeting.
Your views on this are welcomed.

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