On January 28, the good people of Imo state I were shocked when the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly, Collins Chiji and seven other legislators from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Action Alliance (AA) defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Chiji was elected a member of the state House of Assembly representing Isiala Mbano constituency on the platform of the APGA in 2019. He defected to the PDP on June 10, 2019 in order to contest for the position of Speaker.

He was elected Speaker, Imo State House of Assembly on June 13, 2019. On January 28, 2020, barely two weeks after the Supreme Court invalidated the election of Emeka Ihedioha and installed Senator Hope Uzodinma, he defected again from the PDP to the APC with these other lawmakers of the state assembly.

To put it mildly, the development is a huge embarrassment to Imo people. Since those nine members of the Imo Assembly defected to the ruling party, the question on the lips of most Imo people is: “who did this to us?” It is not obvious, but it will certainly be interesting to know why these self-serving legislators decided to defect to the ruling APC.

Was it that by their political assessment and sense of judgment, they did not realize they would do better for themselves and for their constituencies as a responsible opposition or shadow government having the greater number of representatives in the assembly as against the ruling APC that had not even one member in the assembly before their defection? Was it that they preferred to become the executive puppets, willing to obey every of the governor’s command without resistance because they would now belong to the same ruling party?

Why do Nigerian politicians lack ideology and representative focus? For instance, all these politicians who defected to APC, did they consult their constituents before taking such serious decisions? Did their constituents meet to endorse their plans to defect? Or did they just wake up in the morning and believed they might get more money for themselves from the new governor if they belonged to the same party? And were they going to take their constituencies along with them to their new party?

Did it not occur to these traders who call themselves politicians that they would do better for themselves and for their constituencies if they operated as responsible opposition, guiding the minority government to do the right things for Imo people?

And what if – and that is if – the Supreme Court reverses its earlier verdict in the face of new evidence and restores Ihedioha’s mandate, would these guys have the face to come back to the PDP? Or would they still stay in the APC and from there, hope to reach out to Abuja over and above their governor? Our politicians still have a long way to go.

Emeka Asinugo,

KSC United Kingdom