…Top administration official reveals
•Says defectors ‘are coming themselves partly because the President is very fair and nice to them’
•Reps minority leadership blows hot, threatens legal and parliamentary measures to challenge them
By Nnamdi Ojiego and Gift ChapiOdekina
Contrary to the thinking in some quarters that President Bola Tinubu is the one influencing serial defections of opposition governors and lawmakers into the All Progressives Congress (APC), the party in power at the federal level, a top administration official says Tinubu was not behind the defections.
This happened as the leadership of the House of Representatives’ Minority Caucus threatened to explore all legal and parliamentary measures to challenge the defectors.
Sunday Vanguard had reported last week how serial defections to the APC since 2023 had shrunk the opposition in the country with the main opposition party (Peoples Democratic Party, PDP) losing six governors and scores of lawmakers mostly to the ruling party.
In the National Assembly, particularly, no fewer than 70 opposition lawmakers have defected with 16 coming from the Senate and 56 from the House of Representatives.
We have also seen the entire lawmakers from some state Houses of Assembly defecting with their governors into the APC.
Meanwhile, various reasons have been adduced for the defections, ranging from the need for the defectors to align to the centre to be able to get dividends of democracy in full measure for their constituents, the desperation of the defectors for protection from anti-corruption agencies controlled by the Federal Government and the desperation for second term by those serving first term.
Fair and nice
But while denying that President Tinubu was behind the gale of defections of the opposition figures into the APC, the top administration official said the defectors were coming themselves partly because the President had been very fair and nice to them.
“Even the politics that is going on now, Tinubu never reached out to anyone to defect to his party. They are coming themselves partly because he is very fair and nice to them”, he said.
The official spoke while defending the Federal Government performance in curtailing insecurity across the country but lamenting that whereas the resources available to state governments had increased significantly since 2023, they had done little or nothing to help the government at the centre to ameliorate insecurity among other challenges in Nigeria.
“There is no state government in the country today that is borrowing money”, he stated.
“This is happening for the first time and they have excess money. That is why we need to put pressure on them to do more. “The Federal Government has done its part. They have baked very well the cake. The rest is for the states. How well are they doing with what they are getting now?
“I was in the FEC last month, there is no state in Nigeria that is getting less than N20 billion every month.
“This is the result of increase in revenue from subsidy withdrawal.
“And we tried to say that local governments should get their funds directly.
“If a state government wants to do good governance, that is primarily its responsibility. And insecurity will be over. “Many of the things are their responsibility and now they have the funds.
Weaponizing Power
Opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives intensified their criticism of the spate of defections to the ruling APC, accusing the party of using state institutions and political pressure to destabilize opposition ranks and consolidate absolute control of the legislature.
The latest defection, which saw several lawmakers from the PDP, Labour Party (LP), and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) join the APC, has sparked outrage among members of the Minority Caucus, who say the development undermines democratic balance and voter trust.
The Minority Leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), speaking on behalf of the Minority Caucus, said the defections were “a shameful violation of constitutional principles” and warned that the opposition bloc would explore all legal and parliamentary measures to challenge them.
“We cannot continue to sit and watch democracy being reduced to a game of survival for the highest bidder. The Constitution is unambiguous — unless there is a division in a political party, no member has the right to defect and retain their seat. Anything short of that is illegal,” Chinda said.
Hon. Victor Ogene (LP, Anambra), Minority Caucus Spokesman, for his part, said the defections reflected “a dangerous pattern of political manipulation.”
He accused the APC of weaponizing power to weaken dissent and create a rubber-stamp legislature.
“These defections are not born out of ideological conviction but political intimidation and inducement. This deliberate erosion of opposition strength is an assault on democratic plurality and must be resisted,” he stated.
According to him, opposition lawmakers will soon present a joint motion on the floor of the House, demanding a formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the defections and the role of political inducement.
“We are not just fighting for party interest — we are fighting for the survival of multi-party democracy in Nigeria”.
Hon. Dennis Agbo (LP, Enugu) lamented that many lawmakers who defected were beneficiaries of the “youth-driven mandate” of 2023 but had now “abandoned their ideals for political comfort.”
“This betrayal is not just against their parties but against millions of young Nigerians who believed in a new political culture. We are witnessing political prostitution of the highest order,” Agbo stated.
Hon. Obi Aguocha (APGA, Abia) said the ruling party’s actions were reminiscent of the pre-2015 era, when opposition parties were systematically absorbed to weaken checks and balances.
“What we are witnessing is history repeating itself — a drift toward hegemonic dominance that breeds corruption and poor governance,” he said.
The post Shrinking Opposition: Tinubu not behind govs, NASS members’ serial defections to APC appeared first on Vanguard News.
