‘Incessant defection bad for Nigeria’s democracy’

The youngest governorship aspirant in the just concluded Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries in Bayelsa State, Keniebi Okoko, has decried the attitude of politicians who defect from their parties after losing elections, insisting that the practice was bad for the country’s democracy.

Okoko, who came third in the contest that had 21 other governorship hopefuls, in an interview in Yenagoa, argued that Nigerian politicians, as well as their followers, must begin to play value-based politic.

He maintained that destroying a political platform because an aspirant lost an election was not in the best interest of the state.

Okoko was speaking against the backdrop of rumours of massive defection that might soon hit the two major political parties in the state in the aftermath of the primaries that left many governorship hopefuls and their supporters dissatisfied.

He called for politics with ethics, stressing that actions that do not rub off positively on the people must be discarded by Nigerian politicians who feel that if they don’t get a leadership position, then the occupant should be destroyed.

The PDP stalwart advised party loyalists and other major stakeholders threatening to leave the PDP because the primaries did not favour a particular aspirant to have a rethink in the interest of the people and deepening democracy.