The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its most visible rival, the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been exchanging harsh words following the recent impeachment of the Adamawa State governor, Admiral Murtala Nyako. Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, a former governor of Edo State that recently emerged as the National Chairman of the APC, accuses President Goodluck Jonathan as the unseen hand behind the impeachment. Oyegun said members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly were induced with $300,000 as part-payment to remove Nyako from office; and that N500 million is now on offer to Nasarawa State lawmakers to impeach embattled Governor Tanko Al-Makura; while N75 million per lawmaker has been offered to legislators in Edo State to sack Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The APC chair said the PDP was out to remove the governors of Borno, Nasarawa, Edo, Osun and Rivers states by all means. The PDP has, however, denied the claim – especially as it concerns Edo State, where Oshiomhole is currently battling with restiveness in the state House of Assembly which outcome is still unpredictable – describing it as outrageous. Our interest, nonetheless, is not about who is and who is not impeached. The impeachment of sitting civilian governors in the country, occasioned by political intrigues, has been a common experience. It has always been the product of political expediency meant to garner political gains. The latest impeachment storms cannot be informed by motives that are nobler than those that informed the impeachments witnessed in the past.
Our interest is to warn the political elite to critically examine their strengths and weaknesses before taking grave political decisions, because the selfish fights heat up the polity, engender chaos and insecurity, relegate governance to the abyss and make ordinary Nigerians suffer the most because of elite recklessness.
A PDP governor, for example, that decided to defect to the opposition APC, like Nyako did, ought to have the firm support of the majority of members of the state House of Assembly. Nyako had no such support, yet he arrogantly defected to the APC. His impeachment was what he bargained for. Had the Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji, for example, not enjoyed the support of majority of members of the Abia State House of Assembly when, in 2010, he defected from the Progressive Peoples Party (PPA) to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and later to the PDP, he probably would have been impeached before his re-election in the 2011 gubernatorial election which he won with PDP’s ticket.
By the same token, if the governors of Borno, Nasarawa, Edo, Osun and Rivers State, or even Sokoto State, among others, who are in the opposition, are enjoying the firm support of their state houses of assembly, no arsenal deployed by the FG can unseat them. There are tell-tale signals and body languages that President Jonathan might run for a second term in 2015, and that the PDP wants to capture a significant portion of the political space to bolster Jonathan’s chances in the forthcoming presidential election. Perhaps more importantly, the impeachment fever has, to a great extent, exposed the dirty rumps of the nation’s politicians, who are on a self-survival jamboree in the guise of serving the people. Nigerians are yet to be enlightened on the ideological differences between the ruling PDP and the ‘vibrant’ opposition APC, when a whole lot of members of both parties, including discredited crooks, are defecting to the PDP or APC. The impeachment axe or threat may rightly be interpreted as part of the reward for the non-principled politics of defection the political elite of today revel in, without any consideration for the preferences of the electorate. The development is not in the interest of Nigerians; and should not be allowed to disrupt government’s service to the people, though unimpressive as yet.
