The desire of every political party is to stay on top of its game to enable it remain in power. Thus like every other political party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) is not hiding its desire to rule Nigeria beyond 2027.

And with the growing defection to the ruling party, especially by the National Assembly members in recent times, the party appears to be inching closer to realising its dream.

Ironically, while those who have so far defected are insisting that they are leaving their parties because of crises, analysts believe that even the APC they are joining appears to be battling with its own crises.

For instance, recently some leaders of the APC visited former Sokoto State governor and serving Senator, Aliyu Wamakko, which on the surface, they made it looked like a mere courtesy visit, but Sunday Sun can authoritatively reveal that the meeting was part of efforts to pacify the former governor and leader of APC in Sokoto State who is bitter on the alleged ground that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did not honour the agreement they entered into in the build up to the 2023 presidential contest.

Although, it is not clear if Senator Wamakko and his group would move from the APC, Sunday Sun gathered that there would be more defections and realignments ahead of 2027, as APC is also making efforts to woo prominent politicians, especially of northern extraction, from other parties to their fold.

Already, they are in talks with some members of Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso-led New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), collectively and individually.

One of those that has been attracted to APC, but who has not formally defected is former deputy minority leader, in the House of Representatives, Senator Kawu Sumaila.

Senator Sumaila who represents Kano South Senatorial District in the current Senate, was a Senior Special Assistant to former President Buhari on National Assembly matters (House of Representatives) from 2015-2019.

To entice him, Sunday Sun learnt that he has been offered a juicy committee in the Senate.

Before they reached out to him, the APC had equally reached out to Senator Kwankwaso on the same matter.

Sunday Sun gathered that at some point, at the highest level, they were even toying with the idea of offering him the vice presidential slot in 2027.

As at the time of filing this report, Sunday Sun could not ascertain if the discussion was still on along that line.

However, with the recent turn of events in Kano, where it appears the centre could no longer hold in the relationship between the Kano State governor and his benefactor, Senator Kwankwaso, it will not be too long before the former presidential candidate of the NNPP decides his next destination.

Historically speaking, apart from 1999, no political party, whether in government or opposition, from 2003 to 2023, had ever on its own won the presidential contest without some defections and realignments.

Sunday Sun recalls that in the build up to the 2015 presidential election, the then APC gained the number four seat ? Speaker of House of Representatives ? and some governors from the PDP.

But in the build up to the 2019 presidential election, the APC lost the number three seat ? Senate President ? and one or two governors through defections.

Similarly, former Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State defected from the PDP to the APC in December 2014, barely 24 hours after participating in a PDP primary where he lost woefully.

Also, former member of House of Representatives, Hon. Herma Hembe incidentally also joined the APC about the same period.

Ortom was initially dragged to court by some APC governorship aspirants, challenging his emergence.

The then APC leadership at the national level quickly intervened and the matter was settled out of court.

PDP tried to use the issue to send Ortom packing, but because there?s a settled case in law that one cannot challenge a primary election one never participated in, Ortom escaped the judicial hammer.

Ironically, Hembe was sacked for the same offence committed by Ortom.

And Hembe, it was gathered, had to be sent packing because his emergence was challenged from within the APC, not from outside like that of Ortom.

On the current gale of defections, the opposition parties have expressed indignation that lawmakers elected on their platforms are defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), saying it is a ploy to turn the country into a one-party state.

Leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Labour Party (LP) in separate interviews with Sunday Sun, expressed worry over the development, saying that It is not in the interest of the country?s democracy.

This followed the wave of defections of opposition parties? members in the House of Representatives to the ruling APC.

At the last count, a total of nine lawmakers from the opposition in the House of Representatives have defected to the APC.

The defectors included one member from the ADC, two members from the PDP and six members from the Labour Party.

The defectors are Idris Salman (Kogi); Chris Nkwonta (Abia); Tochi Okere (Imo); Erhiatake Ibori-Suenu (Delta) and Esosa Iyawe (Edo). Others are Akiba Bassey (Cross River); Donatus Mathew (Plateau); Dalyop Chollom (Plateau); and Ajang Iliya (Plateau).

Section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that ?a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by one political party, he becomes a member of any other political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected;

?Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored ?.?

Amidst apprehension in the minority caucus that more members may defect in the days ahead, the ADC National Chairman, Chief Okey Nwosu, told Sunday Sun that it is unfortunate that the members of the National Assembly, who are elected to make laws for the country are the ones breaking the law.

Nwosu said: ?It shows the decadence of our politics. It is a clear manifestation of the decadence of our democracy and politics. One would think that after 25 years, the democracy will start to crystallize and people will become a lot more ideologically based.

?It just turned out that all we are facing now is state capture and self-serving members, among the so-called elected persons. They have gone there to serve their own agenda and not the agenda of the people.

?It is unfortunate. We will expect that after 25 years, our democracy and the demarcation between where parties stand and where people stand will start to be clearer. It just showed that for the last 25 years, power mongers have seized power and we are under complete state capture. No more a democracy.

?There is an ill wind blowing around our democracy. No legal action can solve it. People who will solve it are the electorate. Parties that stand for ideology have to develop. This situation where parties serve as molue, Special Purpose Vehicles, I was thinking that after 25 years, we will overcome that. Unfortunately, we have not.

?So, what is happening is a big challenge for everybody. Our democracy is being abused. It is being desecrated. The National Assembly members are in charge of passing the laws. They cannot respect the laws that they passed. What do you call that? Rascality.?

Similarly, the PDP, which spoke through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said defections constitute a threat to the country?s democracy.

According to him, ?it portends the fact that it is democracy that is weakened by actors in this country, where ideology seems to have disappeared. That is why I am saying that the threat of this, because all these defections are to the APC; it is a threat to democracy and we are tilting very dangerously towards a one-party state, which is not good for democracy.

?There have been statements to the effect that some of these are being induced or encouraged by the ruling party.?

Nevertheless, the PDP spokesman insisted that its members, who have defected to other political parties, must vacate their seats in the parliament.

?Our position is consistent with what we said before in the case of Rivers, where we said with effect to the National Assembly, Section 68(1) (g). For State assemblies, it is 109(1) (g). It is clear. It is an automatic thing, you loose your seat. And we have informed the Clerk, that they should not be accorded any right, and we have called on INEC to conduct bye-elections as required by law and as confirmed by the position of the Supreme Court in Adegunde vs INEC.

?We have said there is a process. We have started one in Rivers. We do know that there is a Supreme Court position in Adegunde vs INEC and that is the final position in Nigeria, with regards to the decision on judicial matters.

?The position of that constitutional provision doesn?t even require you to prove anything. The moment you defect and there is no division in your party, you are going to lose your seat automatically. And it is self-executory,? he stated.

The LP National Publicity Secretary, Obiorah Ifoh, while insisting that there is no crisis in the opposition party, stated that a suit has already been filed against the former LP lawmakers. According to him, the party is prepared to pursue the issue to its logical conclusion.

Ifoh said: ?There is no crisis in Labour Party. The Constitution is very clear. Section 68(1) (g) is very clear that the moment you defect from your political party to another one, that you resign.

They are going to resign. If they don?t, we have already gone to court. We have taken them to court, including Senator Onyewuchi Ezenwa that defected earlier.

?They have forgotten that their names were not on the ballot paper, it was the name of the political party that was on the ballot paper. We have gone to court, in line with Section 68 of the Constitution, asking them to step aside. And we will see to the logical conclusion.

?We don?t expect the Speaker to declare their seats vacant since they are already defecting to his party. But the court, the judiciary, is not a member of any political party. We believe that the judiciary will do the right thing.?

Nevertheless, one of the LP defectors, Chollom, who represents Barkin Ladin/ Riyom of Plateau State, in a telephone interview with Sunday Sun, said that he dumped the party because of the crisis in the party.

Besides, the lawmaker added that he cannot stay in a place where his constituency cannot feel the impact of governance.

He queried: ?Is there no crisis in the party? When we have a case in the court for Abure. And Nenadi is there as the caretaker chairman. Is that not crisis? When INEC has asked Abure not to attend their meetings again, because his tenure has expired, it is on record.?

When reminded that the court had ruled in favour of Abure, the lawmaker said, ?they have appealed the case and I don?t know anything about Abure again. Because he has not bothered to call anybody. If anything is happening in the party, the organs of the party has not deemed it fit to call any elected member to talk to. That has been the usual practice in the party. They don?t know about anybody. They don?t call to find out about who is in the National Assembly.

?I have never seen Abure one-on-one. As I speak with you now, I don?t know where the national office is.?

Chollom, who stated that he is not aware of any crisis in the APC, stated that ?I don?t know about their crisis for now. I have not seen any crisis. I know that they have government and they are more stable. They are the only stable political party now. And I cannot stay where my people cannot feel the impact of my representation.

?The idea of me coming here is for my people to benefit governance. And if I am completely out of governance, I don?t know my future, the future of my constituency. Then I am not leading them well. The choice Is not mine. The choice is that of my constituents.?

He Insisted that the LP has benefited from him and not the other way round.

?The party has gained from me. It was my own effort to make the party what it is. The party didn?t campaign for me. I campaigned for the party. It was because of my election that made the party popular in my constituency, ? Chollom stated. (Sunday Sun)

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