Last week, a former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress in Edo State and Chairman of Pacesetters Group of Schools, Mr. Kenneth Imasuagbon, chose to leave the All Progressives Congress, APC and defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Imasuagbon, accompanied by a few of his hangers-on to the state PDP secretariat in Benin, claimed “the hardship, killings, and hunger facing Nigerians and allegedly occasioned by the poor leadership of the APC as the reasons for his defection. He also stated that with the high rate of unemployment, Nigeria had nothing to celebrate at 58.”
But interestingly, Edo APC does not even know that someone left its midst because Imasuagbon is a political feather weight and inconsequential in Edo politics let alone, national politics. In the actual sense, it is good riddance to bad rubbish.

From all records, the Peoples Democratic Party has nothing to offer Edo people and indeed Nigeria and Nigerians at large. As someone who was in the PDP for some time. I know the virus that bugged the PDP. That virus has not left the party. It saddens me when people who left the party out of their experience of the virus still return to their vomit.

Imasuagbon, Alias Rice Man shot himself into pseudo recognition when he started sharing rice to some people in Edo State, those who milled around him did not know he had a latent intention to contest for Governorship of Edo State. But many thanks to Edo people who refused to exchange their birthright for a pack of rice. When he failed to realise his inordinate ambition in ACN, he jumped to the PDP. He tarried a while and contested again, he lost out and cried back, this time to the APC. He launched his net again, into the shallow waters. But I have always had a word for politicians who flirt around not to indulge in such movements as Nigeria does not need such men and women of little minds.

It is important to emphasise that when we throw caution to the winds in taking decisions, we fail to understand that history lay ambush with an indelible note pad. Good or bad, we are recorded appropriately. The questions for Imasuagbon and his hangers-on who decamped are: what is their motive? Why did this set of APC members chose to move from PDP to APC and back to PDP again? From all indications, it is not really about freedom of movement or freedom of association or flawed party congresses as they have told the world. What about the issue of party ideology? What about the desire to give positive change to the grassroots- the poor and marginalized citizens? What about the promotion of democratic ethos and pathos which are the hallmarks of a democratic society? Where do they stand in all of these? What has happened in APC that has not happened in triple measure in the PDP? What did celebrate under the PDP? Of course we celebrated Unemployment, Sufferings in the land, pain and all the lives that were lost in our country. Almost four states were under the control of Boko Haram when the APC government took over power in 2015.

It is there wrong of Imasuagbon to claim that there is nothing to celebrate. We celebrated looting of the nation’s resources by PDP big wigs and PEPs. We did not only celebrate poverty and hunger; the twin evils were institutionalized by the PDP. That explains why Imasuagbon was busy sharinf Rice all through he joined politics. Since the APC took over power Ken Imasuagbon sharing of rice has thinned out because the Buhari administration has boosted local rice production and more Nigerians now have access to rice.

Imasuagbon also told Edo State PDP Deputy Chairman who received him that he is in PDP not to seek political office but joined them to do the right thing. His exact words“ I have come not to seek any political office. I have come to join a party that will do the right thing and lead us to the promised land,” But that may not be true. What his mission back to PDP is will soon unfold, only time will tell.

The point remains that politicians in Nigeria need to make effort to strengthen our nation’s democracy. Why would actors not exhaust mechanisms put in place for resolution of any issue before jumping into another party? Those who left the APC were quite impatient and are as good as having committed political suicide as they go nowhere in 2019.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the APC own Edo State and other parties, including the PDP are spectators. It is a social contract between the APC and Edo people as Edos have resolved that affliction will not visit the state again. Edo citizens would not want to risk their fate in the hands of the spineless PDP led by garrulous gangsters who would stop at nothing in pillorying the state. This is why the APC will sweep the 2019 polls across the country. We have done it before and we would do it again. Edo people would turn out again to give APC massive votes as usual because the party under Adams Oshiomhole and now Godwin Obaseki has established confidence in their hearts over the years. Edo people cannot also forget in a hurry their bitter experience in the hands of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Today, public schools have regained the appeal they were known for with well motivated teachers, even though the state is still interested in making them better positioned to deliver quality services to our children. The roads are all wearing new looks. Old ones are being re-constructed and new ones opened up. Communities that never had potable water for several years when the PDP government held sway and even said water can never be gotten are now enjoying clean water. Who does not want to sustain this development? Who will see light and say he prefers darkness when you are not a principality?

Why the defections from APC? These are people who want Governor Godwin Obaseki to stop the developmental works going on in the state and bring the money to the table for sharing. Some desperately wanted to be appointed Commissioners, Special Advisers, Special Assistants, Executive Directors and Board members. These greedy expectations are the conduits from where the state bleeds and the APC government ably led by Obaseki has pontificated that it is not prepared to subject the state to financial hemorrhage. So, hiding under any guise to defect is a mere a subterfuge after all.

Edo people must be resolved this time around, we need to continue to take our destinies in our hands and ensure continuity in development. On a larger note, we need to sustain change and evolving socio-economic developments in the country. Only the APC can make this happen, and certainly, not the PDP.
________________
• Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress of Nigeria, Edo State.