An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Malam Abubakar Abdullahi, has said that there is no way defections can be avoided in Nigerian politics.
Abdullahi, in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, attributed cross carpeting by some politicians to a desire for political protection.
“You see, in Nigerian politics, defections cannot be avoided. There are certain issues that force people to defect.
“The majority of the present crops of the elected officials and political appointees are not well-bred politicians. They are just opportunists.
“Once they got elected or appointed, they indulged in all sorts of unruly behaviours which led them to commit a lot of atrocities,” he said.
Abdullahi, who is the secretary of former ANPP members in the APC, said that most defectors were doing so as a way of escaping from being penalized for corrupt practices and other offences.
“Most of them will be running helter-skelter, looking for where to hide,” he said.
According to him, the majority of the defections are occasioned by selfishness and personal security rather than principle.
The APC chieftain, however, assured that defections would not lead Nigeria to a one-party state ‘because at the end of the day, the defectors will definitely betray those who believe in them’.
Abdullahi expressed dissatisfaction with the attitudes of Nigerian political elites, saying that they had polluted the system through manipulation of the process, to the detriment of the larger populace.
He, therefore, called for change in attitudes and value systems as a way out of the situation.
VANGUARD
