10,000 People Have Defected to APC and Every Single One of Them Did It Because of Good Governance

The APC has announced, with full chest, no shame, maximum PowerPoint energy, that thousands of Nigerians across multiple states have defected to the ruling party. In Kaduna alone, 12,000 members of opposition parties defected to the APC in the Lere council area, received by a commissioner who assured them, with a straight face, that the governor's rural transformation agenda had simply become too attractive to resist. In Gombe, over 1,000 members from the SDP, NNPP and Labour Party crossed over at a ceremony in the Lubo community. The numbers keep coming. The party keeps smiling.

Now, the APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, has described all of this as evidence of the party's "broad national appeal." He noted that serving governors, including Bayelsa's Douye Diri, Enugu's Peter Mbah, Taraba's Agbu Kefas, and Rivers State's Siminalayi Fubara, have all found their way into the APC family. Governors. Full governors. Men with motorcades and protocol officers. Just woke up one morning and decided, you know what, let me go and join the people.

And the defectors themselves, bless their hearts, told journalists they had "consulted widely with their grassroots supporters" before making this difficult, deeply personal, completely unrelated-to-any-pressure-whatsoever decision.

Here is what we know about Nigerian political defections: nobody defects to a ruling party because of ideology. Nobody sits under their mango tree, reads the party manifesto, and says "this is the one." You defect because the road to your market now runs through their office. You defect because your contract is pending. You defect because someone called someone who called someone, and the message arrived before breakfast.

The APC chairman said the defections show that more Nigerians see the APC as the most acceptable party. Sir, with the greatest respect, a drowning man also finds a boat very acceptable. That does not mean he loves the boat.

The 2027 election is still months away. More defections are coming. Somebody's uncle is already ironing his agbada.