FELIX NWANERI writes on the gale of defections that has seen some political office holders and chieftains of the opposition political parties, switching political camps by joining the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 general election
Defection in Nigeria’s politics predates the country’s independence. It first crept into the country’s political lexicon in 1951, when some members of the National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC) were lobbied to cross over to the Action Group (AG) ahead of the inauguration of Western Region House of Assembly.
The NCNC had won 42 out of the 80 seats in the region’s legislative house during the 1951 elections, but in one fell swoop, the party lost 20 of the seats to the AG. This development prevented the NCNC from forming the government in the then Western Region. The trend continued in the First Republic (1960-1966).
Notable defections in that era were that of Chief Ladoke Akintola, who left AG due to personality clash between him and the leader of the party, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. A similar disagreement between Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and one of his lieutenants, Dr. Kingsley Mbadiwe, forced the latter to dump the NCNC to form the Democratic Party of Nigeria Citizens (DPNC). The story was the same in the Second Republic (1979-1983).
The parties that were worst hit then are the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) – an offshoot of AG and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). Some chieftains of the UPN, including Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Richard Akinjide, Mazi Sam Ikoku and Chief Akin Omoboriowo, at a time, left the party and joined the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Omoboriowo, the then deputy to Governor Michael Ajasin (Ondo State) later became the NPN governorship candidate in 1983. The PRP, on its part, lost Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, who was elected governor of Kano State on its platform in 1979, following his defection to Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP). Rimi’s bid for a second term bid in 1983, however failed as the candidate of his former party defeated him.
While defection could be said to have characterised the country’s political landscape in the first and second republics, it has assumed an alarming rate in the present dispensation (Fourth Republic) that came into be in 1999. Several politicians have criss-crossed more than four or five parties in the last 26 years.
Some did so, abandoning the platforms through which they were elected into office even before their tenure elapsed, while others quickly jumped ship immediately, they or their respective parties, lost elections. Cases of these defections were in trickles in the early years of the Fourth Republic but rose to a height in 2014 ahead of the 2015 elections.
Among top defectors then were former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, then Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers).
These political bigwigs left the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at that time for the then newly-registered All Progressives Congress (APC), while Rochas Okorocha (then governor of Imo State) dumped the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for the APC as well.
Others that headlined the 2015 defections are former Governors Segun Oni (Ekiti), Olagunsoye Oyinola (Osun), Isiaka Adeleke (Osun), Achike Udenwa (Imo), Saminu Turaki (Jigawa), Adamu Aliero (Kebi) and Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto). Federal and state legislators were also not left out.
They include Senators Bukola Saraki, Ali Modu Sheriff, Ifeanyi Araraume and Chris Anyanwu as well as the then Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal. The gale of defections, however, rose to an all-time high after the 2015 polls as most members of the PDP dumped their party for the APC, which won the presidential election.
Among PDP chieftains, who couldn’t wait to rebuild their party after the shocking defeat were a former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo; ex-governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Alao-Akala; a former managing director of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Timi Alaibe and a former Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba.
Others were former National Legal Adviser of the PDP and gubernatorial candidate of the party in the 2012 election in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke; Senators Heineken Lokpobiri, John Briambaifa and Fidelis Okoro; erstwhile chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Information, Eseme Eyibo; former House of Representatives Minority Leader, Muhammad Kumalia and ex-PDP governorship aspirant in Kogi State, Jibrin Isah.
The opposition parties further got depleted ahead of the 2019 elections, following the defection of some of their chieftains to the APC although the party lost its notable members like Atiku, Saraki and Tambuwal to the PDP.
Key opposition figures, who defected to ruling party at the time include a former President of the Senate, Ken Nnamani; Senators Andy Uba, Uche Ekwunife and Anthony Agbo; Tony Nwoye (now senator), Dr. Obinna Uzor (a former PDP governorship aspirant in Anambra State, Sam Onyishi (a former PDP governorship aspirant in Enugu State), Eugene Odo (ex -speaker of Enugu State House of Assembly) and Blaise Orji (ex-speaker of Ebonyi State Assembly).
Others were former governor of Plateau State and then senator representing Plateau Central Senatorial District, Joshua Dariye; then Deputy Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, Yusuf Gagdi; Minority Whip, Daniel Nanlong; Senator Yele Omogunwa (Ondo South), Senator Nelson Effiong (Akwa Ibom South), Senator Smart Adeyemi (fKogi West) and a former deputy Governor of Oyo State, Taofeek Arapaja..
Also, on the seeming endless list, were an ex-governor of Akwa Ibom State and then Minority Leader of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio (now President of the Senate), a former governor of Enugu State, Sullivan Chime; ex-presidential adviser, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa and Senator John Enoh (Cross River Central). It was a similar experience after the 2019 elections and during the build-up for the 2023 elections.
While then Governors David Umahi (Ebonyi) and Ben Ayade (Cross River), elected on the platform of the PDP, respectively defected to the APC in 2020 and 2021, a former governor of Anambra State and the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019, Peter Obi, on his part, left the party in 2022 for Labour Party (LP) to contest the presidential election.
Others who dumped their respective parties ahead of the 2023 elections were a former National Chairman of APGA, Victor Umeh, who joined LP to contest the senatorial election and the then Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who left PDP for APGA and Senator Adamu Aliero, who left APC for PDP.
APC allure decimates opposition ahead of 2027
It is another season of defections given the recent defections of some members of the National Assembly elected during the 2023 elections on the platforms of the opposition parties to the ruling APC.
So far, the figures stand at 17 – four in the Senate and 13 in the House of Representatives. Among senators, who have so far dumped the respective platform on which they were elected are Ezenwa Onyewuchi (Imo East), who dumped Labour Party for APC; Ned Nwoko (Delta North, who left PDP for APC and Kawu Suleiman (Kano South); who moved from New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) to APC.
Like cases in the past, these senators cited intractable divisions and crisis in their respective parties as reason s for defecting to the ruling party. Recall that late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Anambra South), in October 2023, defected from the Young Progressives Party (YPP) to the APC.
Ubah, who passed on in July, 2024, was the only member of the YPP in the Senate before his defection to the ruling party. He was first elected on his former party’s platform in n 2019.
He noted in his letter then that he dumped the YPP as a result irreconcilable differences in the party, but failed to provide details. Lawmakers, who have switched political camps in the House of Representatives through defection are Salman Idris (Ijumu/Kabba Bunu federal constituency of Kogi State) from African Democratic Congress (ADC) to APC; Christian Nkwonta (Ukwa East/Ukwa West federal constituency of Abia State) from PDP to APC; Suleiman Abubakar Gumi (Gummi/Bukkuyum federal constituency of Zamfara State) from PDP to APC and Erthiatake IboriSuene (Ethiope East/ Ethiope West federal constituency of Delta State) from PDP to APC.
Others are Tochukwu Okere (Owerri Municipal/Owerri North/ West federal constituency of Imo State) from LP to APC; Donatus Mathew (Kaura federal constituency of Kaduna State) from LP to APC; Bassey Akiba (Calabar Municipal/ Odukpani federal constituency of Cross River) from LP to APC and Iyawe Esosa (Oredo federal constituency of Edo State) from LP to APC.
The list further has Dalyop Chollom (Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency, Plateau State), from LP to APC; Alfred Ajang (Jos South/ Jos East federal constituency of Plateau State) from LP to APC; Jallo Hussain iMohammed (Igabi federal constituency of Kaduna State) from PDP to APC; Adamu Tanko (Gurara/ Suleja/Tafa federal constituency of Niger State) from PDP to APC and Yusuf Galambi (Gwaram federal constituency of Jigawa State) from NNPP to APC.
Chieftains not left out
The defection game ahead of the 2027 elections is not limited to the lawmakers. Chieftains of the opposition parties as well as the ruling party are also not left out. Just recently, some chieftains of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) defected to the APC in Kano State.
Among the defectors were kinsmen of the national leader of the party, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf. Anyim Pius Anyim, a former President of the Senate, in July, left the PDP for APC. While the move shocked many, Anyim said he and his supporters joined the ruling party because of the resolve to unite the whole of Ebonyi with the APC political family.
He added that move was informed by the need to support President Bola Tinubu and all his political appointees in the state. “The people of Ebonyi have resolved to collaborate with the governor and all federal appointees of Ebonyi, particularly the Minister of Works (Umahi) to upscale our support for President Bola Tinubu,” he said.
It was in like manner that the immediate past deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu and a former Edo North senator, Francis Alimikhena, dumped the PDP for APC ahead of the September governorship election in the state.
Another of such switching of political camp, which however shocked many, was that by Valentine Ozigbo, a former governorship candidate of the PDP in Anambra State and a strong ally of Peter Obi, who left LP for the APC, where he contested the governorship primary for the forthcoming governorship in the state but lost.
Oborevwori collapses
Delta PDP The height of the ongoing defection was witnessed last week, when Delta State governor, Sheriff Oborevwori collapsed the entire structure of the PDP in the state to the APC.
This government’s strategy is a carrot and stick. If we can’t persuade you, we can force you. And I think force is working for now
The governor, a former speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, moved to the centre’s ruling party with his predecessor and vice-presidential candidate of PDP in the 2023 election, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa; a former senator that represented Delta South Senatorial District for 16 years, James Manager and other major stakeholders in the state chapter of the PDP.
Also defected alongside Governor Oborevwori were his deputy, Monday Onyeme, members of the state Assembly, ccommissioners, hundreds of political appointees, local government chairmen, PDP leaders and thousands of supporters.
Their defection marked an end to the 26-year-old grip of PDP on the oil-rich state. Senator Manager, who announce the defection after a six-hour closed-door meeting at the Government House, said: “All PDP members in the state, including the governor, former Governor Okowa, the speaker, the state party chairman, all local government chairmen and others, have agreed to move to the APC.
We cannot continue to be in a sinking boat.” The state Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, who also spoke, cited the need for political alignment to sustain development in the state.
“In taking that decision, we concluded that leaving the PDP was very necessary for us to be able to collaborate and build a state that every Deltan will be proud of. “We believe that what is happening, and the state of the PDP, is akin to that palm wine whose taste has changed — and there was a need for us to change the drinking party,” Aniagwu said.
More PDP govs, opposition lawmakers to join APC
For the member representing Obokun/ Oriade federal constituency of Osun State, Oluwole Oke, who announced resignation of his membership of the PDP, last week, it is being speculated that he will also join the APC. Similarly, there are reports that Senator Neda Imasuen (LP, Edo Sout) is billed to defect to the APC soon.
Reports also have it that other PDP governors have concluded plans to join the APC. Those who have been mentioned are Peter Mbah (Enugu), Umoh Enoh (Akwa Ibom), Agbu Kefas (Taraba), Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa) as well as the suspended governor of Rivers State, Sim Fubara.
While some the governors have dismissed the reports, Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, in a recent media interview, affirmed that more governors across the country are set to defect to the ruling party. “I don’t know the number, but we are expecting more governors to join the APC,” he said.
APC also records losses
The ruling party has also seen some of its members leaving for the opposition parties. For instance, a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, on March 10, defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
El-Rufai, in a statement that announced his resignation from the APC that he was one of its founding members, not only expressed his deep disappointment with the leadership of the party, but accused it of abandoning the progressive ideals on which the party was founded.
He revealed that, for the past two years, he had privately and publicly raised concerns about the party’s direction, but found no willingness among its leaders to address the growing issues. The statement titled: “Onwards to the Future,” read in part: “It had been my hope since 2013 that my personal values and that of the APC will continue to align up to the time I choose to retire from politics.
“Developments in the last two years confirm that there is no desire on the part of those who currently control and run the APC to acknowledge, much less address, the unhealthy situation of the party. “On my part, I have raised concerns in private and, more recently, in public regarding the capricious trajectory of the party.
Therefore, at this point in my political journey, I have come to the conclusion that I must seek another political platform for the pursuit of the progressive values I cherish. “I have diligently served the APC and made my contributions to its viability as a political platform, but I recognise that the party has since strayed and left me stuck in the vision of its well-meaning founding fathers and mothers.
“As a loyal party man, I worked to help secure the APC’s election victories in 2015, 2019 and 2023. I was one of the many governors elected on the party’s platform in 2015 and 2019 that stood for certain democratic and progressive principles to advance nation-building.
“Today, March 10, 2025, I have submitted a letter resigning my membership of the APC to my ward in Kaduna, effective immediately. Prior to this step, I had concluded consultations with my mentors, colleagues and loyalists across the country about the future.
I have now decided to join the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and adopt it as the platform for our future political engagements and activities.” There are also reports that some members of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari-led Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc of the APC are likely to leave the party.
Reason behind moves
Whereas most defection cases in Nigeria are mainly informed by personal interest as against ideological difference in most advance countries, the question is:
How many of the nation’s political parties can be identified with ideas on which economic or political systems are based. This, perhaps, informs the belief that politics in Nigeria remains a game of interest, masquerading as a contest of principles.
It is against this backdrop that some analysts are of the view that the defection phenomenon has only succeeded in relegating politics of ideas to the background given that the manner at which politicians, jump in and out of parties, negates the wisdom behind the provision of section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The section, designed to curb defection at the slightest reason, provides as follows:
“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 (g) being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another 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 of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”
While attempts have been made in the past by parties on the receiving end to get legislators, who dumped the platforms on which they were elected, to vacate their seats, never materialised, the constitution is however silent in the case of governors or a president.
LP accuses APC of poaching
No doubt, the last has not been heard of the defection trend, but the PDP and LP, which are mostly at the receiving end of the development have continued to accuse the ruling APC of wooing its members, especially governors and lawmakers, with return tickets for the 2027 elections.
The APC, according to sources, is employing the defection strategy to weaken the main opposition parties ahead of the next general election.
“There is no hiding the fact that the APC leadership is out to deplete the PDP and LP ranks and it has been doing that by wooing opposition lawmakers and governors to its fold through promises of tickets for the 2027 elections,” a source said.
The leadership of LP, which shared this belief, however announced at the wake of the defection of its members in the National Assembly that the party has opened “a hall of shame” register for defector lawmakers and officials elected under the party’s platform.
The party, in a statement, said: “The defection, to us, is quite unfortunate and we condemn the action which is irrational, untenable, inconsistent and alien to all known norms for which democracy stands for. Citing Section 68(g) of the 1999 constitution, the party recalled how the party achieved its highest feat during the 2023 election by winning one governorship seat, eight Senate and 35 House of Representative seats as well as numerous state Assembly seats, adding that it also caused a major upset at the presidential election, noting that many Nigerians still believed that it won.
The statement read in part: “The successes achieved at that election expectedly elicited some pockets of internal pressure which have since being dealt with through internal peace mechanism and also through judicial means.
“Presently, while some other big parties are swimming in their own political tempest, Labour Party has since moved on having resolved all its challenges. It is therefore safe to say that there is absolute peace in the Labour Party. Therefore, no one elected on the ticket of the Labour Party has the constitutional protection to decamp from the party along with the party’s mandate.”
The party recalled how its Women Leader in Kaduna State, Victoria Chintex, was assassinated in 2022, while working for candidates of the party in the state including, Donatus Mathew, who eventually won as a member of the House of Representatives for Kaura constituency, but decried the lawmaker’s claim that he defected because he is the sole LP member in the whole of North-West.
“Hon Mathew practically spit on the grave of late Chantex and disrespected thousands of party members in Kaduna, who toiled to elect him into position of power. This is why the party, arising from a recent unfortunate activity, did say that ‘the beautiful ones are not yet born.’
“In the case of Reps Okere, Akiba, Esosa and Fom, these men got into their positions on a platter as the party issued them solitary tickets, funded their campaigns, stretched backwards to defend them in the tribunal, gifting them waivers and spending fortunes administratively to ensure they were not removed.
“Interestingly, none of these ingrates remembered to send a kobo to the party in their 18 months of their legislative adventure as a way of checkoff dues. No support to the party whatsoever since their inauguration.
They simply forgot where they were coming from,” LP stated. As expected, the party maintained that its leadership is undaunted by the defection, adding that it has instructed its legal team to commence the legal actions against the defectors and to also commence the process of regaining its mandates in line with the 1999 constitution and 2022 Electoral Act as amended. However, nothing has been heard about the legal move.
PDP disappointed, pained
Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, who reacted to the defection of Governor Oborevwori and other elected and party leaders in Delta State to the APC, described it as painful and disappointing given the level of support the party gave to the state in previous elections.
Parties are in business to compete for power… So, the suggestion that people coming into the APC means the APC is undermining democracy, is ridiculous
His words: “It is very sad and unfortunate because to me, if there’s any state that should think that way, not Delta, because the party is very magnanimous. I thank God that in their message, they didn’t say that the party did anything wrong to them other than good.
“It’s a decision taken by them, but the pains will be in us not because of anything, but because we gave Delta all our support, from the emergence of the governor to his predecessor, who also doubled as our vicepresidential candidate. “We least expected this action from them.
All the same, this is a party that have seen more than that, but it’s still standing,” noting that the PDP leadership is taking stock to set up a caretaker committee for the party in the state. “I want to use this opportunity to say, we’ll take over our structures immediately,” he said, insisting that the election in 2027, will not be about how many governors a party has but about Nigerians.
A PDP chieftain and 2023 presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu, who also reacted to the mass defection of top leaders of the party n Delta State to the APC, however described it as a survival tactic rather than a genuine shift in political ideology. Momodu, who said the move did not come as a surprise, noting that Nigerian political history is filled with similar episodes of defections, said:
“I’m a very good student of Nigeria’s political history, so nothing can surprise me about our politicians. The history of Nigerian politics is replete with stories of defections. “What will surprise me is if President Bola Tinubu believes that people are joining APC because they love him or because he’s doing so fantastically well. What people are doing now is a game of survival.”
He argued that harassment by anti-graft agencies is pushing politicians to align with the ruling party for protection. “Name one of them who has not been harassed at different times by either the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) or the Special Fraud Unit.
“Gone are the days when we admired the likes of Nelson Mandela, Jomo Kenyatta, MKO Abiola, Chief Obafemi Awolowo for going to detention.
These days, nobody wants to go to detention. Everybody wants be at home to enjoy the money they have made in politics. “This government’s strategy is a carrot and stick. If we can’t persuade you, we can force you. And I think force is working for now.”
Coalition conveners not perturbed
A former National Vice Chairman (North West) of the APC, Dr Salihu Lukman, who said that the defection of the Governor Oborevwori and Okowa was expected, however, noted that the coalition of political parties would not lose sleep over their defection or that of other PDP governors.
Lukman, who said they are aware that some PDP governors are already working with President Tinubu, said: “You also know the situation in PDP. The party is clearly a shadow of its own self.
Although we acknowledge there are leaders in PDP who are optimistic that they can rescue the party, but if you remember, when the governors issued a statement against the coalition, our response was that many of them are working for the Tinubu. “And shortly after that, you saw the statement from Akwa Ibom, and of course, the Delta governor.
It’s not only him, if you check the comments, there are many more that are being expected to defect, but on the side of people who genuinely worry for the country, it is expression of fear about a one-party state, while on the side of the government and APC, it is jubilation.”
APC allays fears over drift to oneparty state
Responding to claims that the ruling party is weakening the opposition, and that defections to its fold could push Nigeria towards a one-party state, National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, said his party is not responsible for strengthening the opposition. He added that the APC remains strong despite pressure from within and outside the party. He said:
“The APC today, clearly, in comparison to all of the other parties in the opposition, is holding its own. Our party is standing very strong and resilient, even in the face of enormous pressures, both internal and external, and that’s what a party should be. “A political party shouldn’t be an entity without its own internal challenges.
But I think what matters is how it deals with those challenge; how the party manages those contradictions or internal conflicts of interest, which are natural to every institution, especially a political party that is an agglomeration of people who may have diverse interests and come from diverse backgrounds.” Morka dismissed suggestions that the APC is weakening democracy by receiving defectors from other parties, saying:
“There is no democratic idea, norm or system anywhere in the world, where a ruling party is under obligation to build the opposition. Parties are in business to compete for power. “That’s what they are supposed to do. That’s the idea behind any democratic system. So, this idea, this suggestion that people coming into the APC means the APC is undermining democracy, is ridiculous.”
While more politicians across the various divides are expected to switch camps as the race for the 2027 elections gathers momentum, developments in the days ahead, will determine whether those who have jumped ship will remain in their respective new platforms or continue with the back-and-forth movement if their expectations are met.
