By ADEWALE KUPOLUYI

THE nation’s political landscape is becoming more and more interesting with the dumping by the ‘rebel’ governors of the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress, a move seen as the climax of months of unending political intrigues in the ongoing political realignment ahead of 2015.

Whatever name it is called – defection, decamping or carpet crossing – the affected PDP governors; Hon. Chibuike Amaechi (Rivers), Alhaji Ahmed Abdulfatah (Kwara), Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (Kano), Alhaji Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), and Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) – have simply taken a hard decision that may or may not add much value to the county’s political system.

With this development, there is certainly going to be significant alteration to the nation’s political configuration in a number of ways. First is the whittling down of PDP’s state dominance, which previously had 23 out of the 36 governors, while the All Progressives Grand Alliance and Labour Party have one each, with the APC now controlling the rest.

What this translates to is that the opposition can no longer be described as ‘weak’ in terms  of party structure, grassroots mobilization and firm control of state governments including the South-South, where the presidency is zoned to under the current dispensation. The opposition’s lead in the North-west states of Kebbi, Kaduna and Kebbi and Kwara, North-central is also a clear indication that it has now become a formidable force.

Secondly, the realignment is bound to re-shape the existing power structure and alliance in both the House of Representatives and Senate. It has the tendency to draw up dislocations and threats of impeachment in the bid to wrestle power from the executive, the moment the opposition becomes conscious of controlling a reasonable amount of followership.

Thirdly, the 2015 general election is directly likely to be most affected, going by the stance of the G7 governors that power should go back to the north, accord recognition to Amaechi as the real Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the resignation from office, the PDP national Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the APC alliance with five elements  in G7 could further ignite political torch.

We recall that the NGF election ended in stalemate as the incumbent chairman, Amaechi and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State laid claim to victory. While the former allegedly polled 19 out of 35 votes, Jang reportedly secured 16 votes, resulting into the two governors running parallel leaderships and Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State leading another body called the PDP Governors’ Forum.

Fourthly, the strength of opposition is bound to soar remarkably in the polity. This merger is expected to breed a coalition that could rival the ruling party, which once boasted that it will rule the country for the next 60 years.

Fifthly, in the Upper House, the PDP hitherto had 74 senators as against that of 29 by the opposition, APGA had one and the Labour Party had four while the current configuration may bring about a reduction in the number of senators under the PDP roof.

Already, 49 members of the House of Representatives  have joined their governors in decamping to the APC. Spokesman of the defecting group, Hon. Suleiman Abdurahman Sumaila stated that legislators in the Lower Chamber from Adamawa, Kwara, Kano, Rivers and Sokoto were following their governors, in which Kano has 14, Rivers -13, Sokoto -11, Adamawa – 6 and Kwara – 5 members.

If this slide continues, we could have a situation where the PDP may lose its overwhelming two-thirds majority and invariably migrate from being the majority to the minority party. This will become a great problem for the ruling party, especially when issues like getting the nod of the legislators come to play as  failure to maintain PDP’s dominance, in both chambers  may weaken the enormous power of the President in terms of pushing through his interest in the National Assembly.

Also, in terms of litigation, the defection could bring about the demise of a series of pending court cases. The tendency is there that other aggrieved members of the PDP may take solace in the merger and discontinue their cases against the ruling party.

Irrespective of what the politicians would gain or lose from the power tussle, that should be of less importance to us. Rather, what should be of utmost interest to any lover of democracy are the benefits such a change is capable of bring to the nation and its peoples, both in the short and the long run.

Ordinarily, the existence of political alternatives encourages healthy completion that allows the electorate have ample opportunity to take their destiny in their hands by truly deciding who should govern them. This is the essence of democracy.

Over the years, the nation has been privileged to experiment various party structures and platform to elect their leaders. Unfortunately, things have not really worked out well, as desired by the people.

Naturally, as a growing democracy, one should expect some imperfections. This is still part of the learning process as no nation has ever obtained full democratic dividends on a platter of gold. Nigeria should, therefore, not be an exception.

While we strive for the El-Eldorado, we should put in place, the conducive atmosphere that will propel the nation into development, made possible by the political actors. It is on this basis that the dominance of one party should not be encouraged.

Therefore, it will amount to nothing if the merger is unable to synergize positively by blending together and taking advantage of where other parties have failed to better the lot of the people in the provision of unemployment, security, good and affordable education, health and sound economic base that will spur our country into global reckoning.

To begin with, the merger should lead to the emergence of a party manifesto that will address the challenges facing the nation as well as the policies and programmes it intends to implement when voted into power. Nigerians are no more ready for deceit and any rhetoric that will translate into meaningless leadership, governance and the idiomatic fable of ‘jumping from frying pan into fire’.

*Mr.  Kupoluyi wrote from federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State.