All over the world, politics is seen as a game of interest where most players go in for what they believe in and the ideals they hold dear and seek to impact such ideals upon their society and humanity at large. For most politicians, the end game or big picture is to create a positive impact and improve the well-being of their compatriots for the good of mankind.
But in this clime, Nigerian politicians join the fray for what they stand to gain and not what the people will benefit from them. Their interest, mostly selfish, has often gone beyond the ordinary as 90% of Nigerian politicians have taken treachery and betrayal to a whole new level, as they strive for survival.
Many Nigerian politicians are driven by their personal interests and once that interest is not met in party A, they would shamelessly decamp to party B, even if they had spent time criticising and demonising the new party.
In fact, a typical Nigerian politician who does not bad mouth an opposition party is not regarded as a serious politician. They shun issues that matter and delve into abuses.
There is no field where treachery is as pervasive as in the kind of politics that is played in Nigeria as the politicians have adopted the mantra of no permanent friend or enemy but permanent interest: and in this case, their own interests.
Sadly, party affiliation is not based on principles or ideology but on conspiracy to capture power for individual or group enrichment and where that is not achieved, they move to the next one.
A greater number of Nigerian politicians are fortune seekers and fair-weather friends. They behave like fishes in the water, they migrate to where the water is fuller, and some change parties more than five times in one cycle.
From the likes of former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode to former Kogi State Senator Dino Melaye, to Niger Delta politician Godsday Orubebe, to former Akwa Ibom State Governor and past Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, the list of turncoat politicians is endless.
But for the purpose of this piece, we will focus on the most prominent ones, who have thrown caustic remarks at parties/individuals, whom they later joined.
Femi Fani-Kayode
When former President Olusegun Obasanjo described Femi Fani-Kayode as a “smart boy” who dances to the tune of his belle, many thought it was one of OBJ’s diatribes at perceived enemies.
But Obasanjo was emphatic in declaring that the man he made his Minister was not a man of honour.
In an interview in 2018, OBJ said:
“Femi Fani-Kayode is my boy. Provide him with food, he will eat and then sing for you. He’s a smart boy.”
The description of Fani-Kayode as a fair-weather politician was confirmed when he pulled an unpleasant surprise in 2021 by defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party he had spent years criticizing and calling all sorts of names.
At a point, he had said:
“I would rather die than join a filthy, rat-infested sinking ship like the Almajiri Peoples Congress (APC)”, but Nigerians are wondering how he is still breathing.
At another time, FFK, as he is fondly called, took it upon himself to be the nemesis of President Muhammadu Buhari while he was on the other side of the divide.
There was no name he did not call Buhari, from a devil to a hypocrite, to a “pernicious liar and a heartless killer”, Buhari had it all from the mouth of Fani-Kayode.
In 2018, during an interview, he called out President Buhari and said;
“You are nothing but a pernicious liar, a loud-mouthed hypocrite and a schoolyard bully. No one has looted as much money, inflicted as much pain and shed as much innocent blood as you.”
In another interview same year, he said;
“Buhari is not kind, he is cruel. He is not empathetic, he is sociopathic responsible for genocide.”
During the 2020 Endsars protest, FFK was quoted as saying:
“Hundreds of people are being slaughtered every day and genocide, ethnic cleansing and mass murder are alive and well on our shores and someone is telling us not to attack the man that is responsible for it by his actions and inactions?” he added.
But in 2021 when he wanted to move to the other side, he extolled the virtues of the same Buhari to high heavens, short of calling him the Jesus of Nigeria.
On the day he took the ignominious step to dine with his one-time enemies, Fani-Kayode took to his Facebook page to write:
“Today, I came to the State House, Abuja, to see the most respected president in the world and father of modern Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari is the reason why Nigeria is fast developing in infrastructure and unity. He received me warmly. God bless Buhari.”
In a televised interview, he was also quoted as saying:
“There is a time to condemn and criticise people. There is also a time to come together, and work together to achieve unity.
“Joining APC now is the way forward, despite what people may think about it. APC is a liberal party. A lot has happened in APC over the years.
“The party has changed and President has accommodated the change. Had the APC leadership not changed, I wouldn’t have joined them.
“I am doing the right thing based on conviction and understanding. This is the right decision for me, love me or hate me, it will not take anything away from me.
“Back then, I spoke against Buhari from the outside; now I know him from the inside. I am not saying he is an angel or a demon. The APC I was talking about that time is not same today. Let’s focus on unity, peace and togetherness.”
Dino Melaye
Closely on the heels of Femi Fani-Kayode is former Kogi Senator, Dino Melaye, who is now one of the spokesman for the PDP presidential campaign council.
As an APC senator, Melaye was a thorn in the flesh of the PDP especially then President Goodluck Jonathan whom he once described as that drunk Bayelsa man.
Dino became famous for making skits castigating the PDP and its members but when he lost his reelection to Smart Adeyemi, Melaye defected to the PDP and became the tormentor in chief of the APC, regularly churning out videos making a mockery of the party and its leaders.
His famous “Aje ku ija” video and many of such over the years have conveniently placed him in the ranks of politicians who became turncoats after spending years bad-mouthing the opposition. And our man has been duly rewarded handsomely by the PDP.
David Bwala
Before his defection from the APC to the PDP, Daniel Bwala, was chieftain of the ruling party and a staunch critic of the opposition party, especially its presidential candidate. Atiku Abubakar who, incidentally, is from the same Adamawa State as Bwala.
Bwala announced his defection in late June in protest of the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the party for the 2023 election.
While announcing his defection to the PDP, Bwala, a former aide to Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, said the “PDP presents a clearer vision for Nigeria” and the “only party that has realistic chances of wrestling power from the APC.”
But while in the APC, Bwala had taken every opportunity to criticise the PDP, calling its leaders despicable names. But with his defection, he has reverted to type by pouring aspersions on the APC to justify his new position as one of the spokesmen of the PDP presidential campaign council.
Godsday Orubebe
Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, also falls into the league of Nigerian politicians who threw their convictions to the wind by defecting to an opposition party after spending years criticising it.
He officially defected to the APC from the PDP and was promptly made the Director-General of the campaign organisation of the APC flag bearer for the 2023 governorship election, Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.
Orubebe is famous for his attempts to disrupt the collation of results of the 2015 presidential election on March 31, 2015.
While the proceedings were ongoing, an angry Orubebe stood up from his seat at the collation centre, marched to the podium, seized the microphone and sat on the floor in protest against results being announced.
Orubebe who was a polling agent for the PDP, alleged that the then INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, had taken sides with the then opposition APC to rig the election in favour of its candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
And today, the tides have turned and Orubebe is a member of the same party he once hated with his might.
John Akpanudoedehe
Former secretary of the APC Extra Ordinary Committee, John Akpanudoedehe is another serial defector who has traversed from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to the PDP, to the APC and on June 4, resigned from the APC to the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) where he is the party’s governorship candidate for the 2023 election in Akwa Ibom State.
But one thing that stands Akpanudoedehe out is his penchant for criticising the opposition party whenever he moves to a new party.
He did it when he left the PDP to the APC where he used his position as the national secretary to castigate at every opportunity he had.
Now with the NNPP, Akpanudoedehe has not relented in criticizing the APC and even organised his followers into burning thousands of brooms (the symbol of the APC) when he defected.
One of the former APC chieftain’s grouse with his former party has been a lingering political battle with former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, over the control of the APC structure in their state.
Godswill Akpabio
When Godswill Akpabio was the Governor of Akwa Ibom State on the platform of the PDP for eight years, he never lost an opportunity to demonize the APC.
He often called the APC a “party of houseboys” because of the broom symbol of the party and once swore on his father’s grave that nothing would make him join a party of house boys.
On other occasions, he waxed a song where he mocked the APC as a party of “witches and wizards” who fly on brooms.
But after his second tenure as governor ended and with the EFCC hounding him over graft allegations running into billions of naira, Akpabio suddenly realised that the APC was a party of saints and promptly defected to the ruling party where he was made a Minister.
And since then, he has been a selfless critic of the PDP his former party.
Chris Finebone
Before his defection from the APC to the PDP, Chris Finebone was the spokesman of the Rivers State chapter of the APC.
As a spokesman of the APC, Finebone was famous for his acerbic comments on the PDP and its leaders, especially Governor Nyesom Wike.
He was known for his vocal, strongly-worded and critical press statements against the PDP, the administration of Wike and other individuals and groups that seem to be working against the interest of his then principal, Chibuike Amaechi.
In a scathing press release following the defection of Senator Magnus Abe from the APC, Finebone had described the exit as a “successful excision of debilitating cancer from the body”.
Finebone took no prisoners in his press statements and interviews while attacking the PDP which he has now found a home now, and is now friends with Governor Wike whom he previously demonized!
