COUNTING THE HIGH PRICE OF POLITICAL PROSTITUTION

COUNTING THE HIGH PRICE OF POLITICAL PROSTITUTION By Ogu Bundu Nwadike (08037146635, sms only) It feels like there is nobody reading this that does not have an inkling of what the term prostitution connotes and denotes. So let me save us the rigmarole of defining or describing what prostitution means. I once overheard a little child say that a prostitute is an ashawo! And indeed the topic we are sharing here has verisimilitude with the concept of prostitution. Ordinarily, defection (a.k.a decamping) from one political party to another is allowed. It is allowed because of the elasticity of choices that characterize democratic system of government. If a person at any point in time feels he no longer enjoys love, peace and comfort in a party, democracy supports him with latitude to leave for another party of his choice. It is this right of a politician to leave his party at his discretion and align with another party that is known as defection. What still hovers in the realm of conjecture is why and when the normal art of defection acquired the uncomplimentary sobriquet of “political prostitution”. Probably, in the bid to find better garb, defectors have more recently been described as “nomadic politicians” and “internally displaced politicians (IDP). Still for reasons yet unraveled the tag of political prostitute has stuck like an indelible birth mark on politicians that have turned career political defectors, running from one party to another. In this essay, I am purposed to highlight the fact that political prostitution is practised with high prices that are shared by the prostitute and her patrons. The aim is to add to existing exhortation for politicians to imbibe the culture of  good partymanship and remain in their parties to work out plausible solutions to inevitable internal crisis that may arise from time to time. It is not true that political prostitution is unavoidable. After all, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, the immediate past Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives and current Imo  governorship aspirant, has remained a member of the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP) since 1998 when that party was registered. In fact, he was also a member of PDM since 1995 that metamorphosed into PDP. He is a founding member of PDP and has shunned all lure and urge to play the political whore. Probably, in fairness to all politicians, a politician that leaves his first party to a second party may be spared the tag of “political prostitute”. But certainly not a politician that has changed parties for a multiple of more than two times. Any politician, who for any reasons whatever, cross-carpets for more than once, has automatically been enlisted into the Political Prostitutes’ Hall of Fame of Nigeria. Such are certified political prostitutes. We know them and they know themselves. A political party is like a nuclear family. No normal person irreparably jettisons his family for another family irrespective of his reason or excuse. There may be various kinds of vexatious disputes in a family with many ending in court. But all members of the family still remain members of the same family until eventually their altercations are assuaged amicably. That is one great capacity Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha has which other politicians should endeavour to groom. On the issue of being a good party man, Ihedioha and his ilk, few as they may be, must be emulated if Nigeria’s nascent democracy will survive and be sustainable. With regard to counting the high prices of political prostitution, it must be obvious that as was stated earlier, defections from one party to another is just politically, socially and economically too expensive for both the merchandiser and the merchandisee. How do I mean? Because of the heterogeneous nature of political parties and politicians in Nigeria, what is obtainable in one party is what is obtainable in the other party. Hence, sooner than later, the nomadic politician that is also an internally displaced politician discovers that whatever he was running away from in PDP, for instance, prevails in APC and vice versa. The point there is that at the time a politician is joining from his political party he and his party must be counting their gains. But when the politician decides to leave or defect, both the party and the politician count their losses. It is very costly to groom a politician. It is as expensive as training a medical doctor or a lawyer. For example, it will be a colossal loss for the PDP to lose a founding good party man like Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. He has never stopped eulogizing PDP for affording the opportunity to be highly placed in the Nigerian political power and leadership bracket. And from what we hear, PDP at all levels are also very proud of Ihedioha. Imagine, therefore, what a great loss it will be if anything should separate PDP and Ihedioha. More specifically, let it be known that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Dr. Olubukola Saraki is the president of the Nigerian senate. He was a great beneficiary of the cover of the PDP umbrella under which he served as two-term Kwara State governor and one-term senator. But for what has become adjudged minor internal crisis in the PDP in 2014, Saraki joined few PDP leaders that defected to the APC where he won second term as a senator in 2015 and was elected the senate president. Now, since 2015 till date, the APC top echelon leadership has not stopped embarrassing and harassing Saraki to the highest heights. He is having charges of sponsoring robbers to rob banks and kill many people in Offa, kwara State. Dino melaye is a senator of the Federal republic. Like Saraki, he defected from the PDP to the APC in 2015. Since 2015 Melaye has remained hounded and assaulted by state security operatives at the orders of the APC. He narrowly escaped recall by his senatorial district just as he narrowly escaped death after jumping out of a moving police truck. And to know that both Saraki and Melaye are being molested because they uttered words they freely uttered in PDP and nobody raised an eyebrow. There are many PDP members that defected to APC who are today at the mercy of APC suffering the same fate as Saraki and Melaye. In Imo State, Gov. Okorocha is the national record holder in political prostitution. He occupies a high place in the Political Prostitutes’ Hall of Fame of Nigeria. He began with PDP, defected to ANPP, defected to AA, defected to PDP,defected to APGA before defecting to APC where he is now said to be preparing to defect to another party. In the beleaguered Imo APC, there are politicians that defected to APC from PDP. But since their defection, they have seen more troubles than they saw while in PDP. Many of them were people that were treated as lords in PDP. But since they defected to APC, they are regarded as inconsequential entities. All of the foregoing instances, brief as they are, encapsulate what this discourse is all about. Defectors lose more at the end of the day than they were losing in the party they defected from. They lose already gained ground in their party only to start afresh in their new party. They lose recognition, regard and respect. They are easily reminded that they are gatecrashers and insulted immeasurably. How wonderful it would be if politicians will think twice before settling for the option of defection from their party to another party. It is easier to be a good party man in a party with internal crisis than be a bad party man in another party still with its own internal crisis. Where any politician feels it is too difficult to bear and endure stress in his party, let him take cue from Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha and other sincere party members that have remained committed members of PDP, despite all manners of internal crises. It is possible to be a good party man. Let what defectors are suffering in their new parties be a good guide to politicians that may be contemplating defection because of temporary discomfort. Indeed, it pays to remain steadfast in a party than turn a political prostitute rolling from one party to another.