Defection Motivated by Hunger – Lawal
The wave of defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has been described as an action motivated by hunger and self-preservation, not ideology or principle.
Babachir Lawal, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, made the comment during an interview with Arise News on Wednesday, noting that there is no trace of loyalty.
According to him, two types of politicians: those who enter politics to serve the people and those driven by personal gain.
He said, “It’s not every Nigerian that can withstand hunger and not every Nigerian can survive a poverty condition. So most of these politicians that are defecting to APC are probably driven by the desire to safeguard their stomachs and to safeguard their luxurious lifestyles that they have acquired while in government using the people’s money. So, to them, it’s okay, they can go that way, that’s what they choose to do.”
“Defection is just a function of the character of the person. It’s a function of the character. Somebody without character will easily abandon you when his interest is threatened, rather than when the interests of the masses are threatened,” he said.
“We are not bothered about defections. It will continue to happen. But I mean, 2027, we’ll go to the ballot boxes and we’ll see the results. We are confident that it’s immaterial.”
Lending his voice on the planned coalition ahead of 2027 which Atiku Abubakar, Lawal stated that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is not included
“In all the meetings I’ve attended so far, nobody has ever bothered about adopting the PDP as the platform. We all agree that PDP has an incurable virus. No anti-biotics can cure what is ailing the PDP and we don’t want to go into a house that we cannot modify that is not willing to change,” he said.
Recall that the party has been having internal crisis which is yet to be rectified as effort have proved abortive. The party leaders have been on loggerheads over the national secretary position invoPeoples Party lving Sunday Ude-Okoye and Samuel Anyawu.
Speaking further he noted that the coalition’s technical committee is examining whether the alliance should register a new party or adopt and upgrade an existing one, adding that the opposition coalition’s leaders will soon unveil their new platform to alleviate Nigerians’ concerns about the coalition’s party.