IT IS NOT EASY TO RE-WRITE OUR past but we can and should be responsible for the future of Nigeria. Our children need it and none should want prosperity and peaceful coexistence than the Nigerian. We owe that much to ourselves.  Former US president, Franklin Roosevelt once said: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have enough; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” that is a big question to Nigerian politicians. A careful research on the members of both dominant parties namely PDP and APC will generate the conclusion that the same people who have plotted the graph of backwardness of the country have only come under a new name to foster their nefarious acts. It is still the same old story of the PDP being tagged as evil while some of their key members with questionable pasts are adopted by the APC for a new course. Now, former President Olusegun Obasanjo is calling for a coalition movement to contest and oust the present regime.

The predicted result is the application of the same old values and ideologies to a new political setting which presumably will yield the same outcome as we have had in the past and in this present dispensation.

There have been a lot of political chants about “change” as well as “transformation” by the members of the All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party respectively. They both form the two dominant political parties of the multiparty system practiced in Nigeria today. Nigerians have aligned themselves consciously as well as unconsciously with both political parties. In the wake of 2015 general elections, the hopes of Nigerians have been raised with the APC appearing out of the blues as messiahs of the masses. The predicted result is the application of the same old values and ideologies to a new political setting which presumably will yield the same outcome as we have had in the past.

In a developed political setting, political parties are founded on strong values and ideologies. Aspiring leaders that share in the same belief system and perspective will join the party that suits their political ideologies. In America today, the mode of operation of a democrat is different from the tactics and techniques of a republican due to the different foundational values inculcated in them by the political parties they belong to. In Nigeria today, the level of maturity of our politicians can be likened to a playground of kids who at the slightest quarrel or distortion of interests join another group to play with sands, kick balls or probably fiddle with insects. This is a blatant show of ‘politics of reshuffling’. Human beings dictate the course of every organization. The destiny or development of the organization shouldn’t be blamed on the organization as a non-living entity but all the members that made it up. The recent trend of constant defection even on the day of the election only shows the level of selfishness and un-seriousness on the path of our so called ‘leaders’ the younger generation look up to. This is an expression of shame, lack of vision as well as conscience. It depicts the fact that our political parties are not bounded by different ideologies and the members can’t boast of a single political philosophy that will guide their administrations when they get into office. The bitter truth is that defection has been made easier since the political parties and their members in Nigeria share a common dominant political ideology and philosophy which is the desperate will for political power as a gateway to wealth through massive corruption. This is a common endemic nature of man who loves to amass wealth indiscriminately while in a public office. 

The motive behind defection is a far cry from the change needed by Nigerians at this crucial stage. The mode of admission by the competing parties only shows their desperation to amass supporters just to win political power at all costs. I will not be surprised if one party adopts the world-renowned terrorist and leader of the Boko Haram sect, Abubakar Shekau due to the unending number of fighters within his control which will numerically favour politics. If indeed a political party is truly evil as it appears, then these defecting individuals one way or the other contributed immensely to the bad records. So in conclusion, what is the change they are clamouring? Probably the truth behind the ‘change’ slogan is the change of party. Under normal circumstances, the same set of nonchalant company workers over time with the same orientation of lacklustre attitude will always come up with the same poor results no matter the trial opportunities given to them. Bad vessels contaminate good contents.

Dear readers, is this the reality of the CHANGE we voted for? This tastes like the same old wine but in a different golden bottle. Same old poison put in the container of a potent medicine. What difference does it make in the real sense? The appearance maybe different but the output is the same.  In truth, we are following the same old leaders; the difference is simply the name. The masses are just middlemen taking the pains while politicians sit back to re-strategize and secure their interests.  From these analyses, you will realize that the only thing that is not defecting is the name of the party. Individuals are cross-carpeting like it’s the football transfer market. The common lie is that the defection was made in the interest of the country. Don’t be deceived, the term ‘country’ in their own dictionary means their ‘pockets’. But weighing the gravity of this event from the developmental sense will give you the conclusion that the decampees are only desperate and hungry people using politics to struggle for survival. They are of little or no value to nation building and development.  On an ending note, all the lives lost to the presidential elections, recent economic problems, Boko Haram insurgencies, killings by Fulani herdsmen shouldn’t be in vain. They heard about the change, they hoped for it but never lived to see it. They are our heroes. Let us honour them by taking Nigeria to the summit.

God bless Nigeria!!!