Attah, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, said many of the defections are due to selfish interests of politicians, not to advance democracy as they claim.

Chukwudi Nweje

Former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, yesterday said the defection of Senator Godswill Akpabio from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) might turn out to be a liability to the APC, especially in Akwa Ibom.

He said the former minority leader in the Senate may yield positive results for the APC at the national level but would cost the party the governorship election in the state.

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“We say in Akwa Ibom that when you cook a nice pot of soup, it should be covered properly to prevent certain unwanted things like cockroaches from crawling inside and making it sour.

“There was a time Akwa Ibom State was 100 percent PDP, then somebody like Don Etiebet left the PDP and went to the APP, he later returned and I welcomed him back to the PDP. “Then, suddenly, Akpabio came to the APC and many people, including Etiebet are moving en masse to the PDP. The APC has a lot of work to do in Akwa Ibom otherwise they may just have let their pot of soup go sour. If the APC wins Akwa Ibom it would be in spite of, rather than because of Akpabio. If you leave it to Akpabio, I don’t think the APC will go far in Akwa Ibom State,” he said.

Attah, who spoke to journalists in Lagos, also said many of the defections ongoing are due to selfish interests of politicians, not to advance democracy as they claim.

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“All these decamping by politicians are for selfish interests not in defence of democracy. Look at the Senate president for instance, while he was decamping to the PDP, he said: ‘The Federal Government appointed over 200 several juicy offices without allotting any to me or Dogara, everything went to the Katsina and Lagos. If not for the love I had for Nigeria, we would have scattered everything. These are individualistic and selfish reasons; I am going because I didn’t get what I wanted? But let me tell you, some of these defectors are going to face a very cold political winter,” he said.

He said Nigeria is in distress because the political parties have lost their ideologies.

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“Nigeria is in severe distress and this distress is caused by politicians, who have lost every kind of morality, integrity and honour. The political parties, if they ever had any ideology or philosophy has lost them, they are just platforms, that is why people are just jumping from one party to the other without thinking of where they are going and a country without a sense of direction or focus is going to the dogs.”

He said the 90 political parties registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have not helped matters. There are many political parties and candidates, and noted that two or three strong political parties with identified ideology would be best for Nigeria.

Attah also took a swipe at the PDP over its criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption war as selective.

He said: “The PDP made Akpabio their leader and celebrated him. Today, that he has left the PDP, they are saying he is hiding from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and looking for protection. Is it after he left the party that he became corrupt? That is the immorality in the whole thing.”

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