One poser that has been thrown up by the ongoing manipulations of the country’s political space relates to the credibility and moral fortitudes of the average Nigerian politician. Sadly, the answer is not blowing in the wind: It is clear that politicians do not regard public service as their priority. A pointer to that fact is their obsession with the gravitation of power in 2027, and how they can leverage the possibilities. This informs their free flow from one party to the other with the least consideration for principles. It is clear therefore that most political parties in the country, while professing some ideological lineage, are actually bereft of the ideological aptitude to move the country and citizens forward.
   
Since 1999, Nigerians can testify to the gradual deterioration in the quality of political parties that field candidates for elections, and ultimately produce office holders that preside over the country’s affairs. In content and stature, Nigerian political parties have become hollow vessels; politicians who convert to grab power and access public resources. Yet, any democracy run on a political system devoid of concrete beliefs and solid ideological orientation is bound to fail. 
   
In the Second Republic, the political class operated without character and integrity. The politicians of that era squandered opportunities to provide good governance. Instead, they embarked on all manner of malfeasance, notably nepotism and crass corruption that pervaded the nooks and crannies. That lack of character and good governance produced resentment in the populace, which culminated in the disastrous end of that republic. Unfortunately, the indiscretions that accounted for that collapse would pale into insignificance compared to today’s flagrant and monumental immoralities in the public space. Today’s politicians have learned nothing from history; they seemed destined to wreck the Fourth Republic. 
   
Political ideology determines the values and principles that shape the political orientation of a political party and its understanding of how a government should function. It is on this basis membership is anchored and voters’ interests articulated. In climes where serious political parties have evolved over centuries, political ideologies are dogmas that cannot be traded for political patronage by ruling parties. Ideologies influence parties’ attitudes to situations and realities of the people. Ideologies assist parties in developing policies that are relevant to citizens’ aspirations. 
   
But in Nigeria’s case, our political parties only pretend to have peculiar ideologies on paper. In real life, they are not different from one another; they have become mere vehicles to win elections. That is why at the flimsiest of excuses, politicians wander aimlessly from one party to another, thus weakening the party system that was supposed to incubate sound policies to enhance good governance. It is regretful that the country has no parties that are ideologically rooted in policies designed to give a better life and assurance of a better future. 
   
Consistently, since the commencement of this democratic journey in 1999, the country has witnessed the political class diminish and desecrate the party system. The recent defection of the Governor of Delta State, Sherriff Oborevwori, his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa and the entire state machinery of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), into All Progressives Congress (APC), is, to say the least, indecorous and reckless. The act is unconscionable, as it does not portray good character and the discipline required to drive purposeful leadership. Nigerians do not see any compelling justification for it. It is incongruous with democratic practice and principles to herd the entire state structure of a political party to change course while still holding on to the mandate of another party. It is artificial and is capable of derailing good governance. The only reason that can be reasonably deduced from the action is nothing but a selfish motive and selfish interest of the politicians. Democracy abhors coercion, as it is constitutionally guaranteed for individuals to exercise free choice. What happened in Delta is better explained for what it is: a manipulation that infringes on an individual’s right to association. 
 
Political parties are creations of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic, and they are guided by rules. Section 221 provides for the creation of parties. Section 222 outlines the requirements for a political party. Section 223 provides for the constitution and rules of a political party, meaning that a political party is accountable and cannot be lawless. The Constitution generously permits the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to oversee political parties. However, it would appear that INEC, by acts of omission and commission as well as through the pronouncements of the judiciary has ceded away a lot of its oversight powers over parties. 
 
For example, the judiciary has willed away what used to be INEC’s oversight role in taming parties’ excesses, when it ruled in the case of the Labour Party leadership crisis, that only parties can determine who their leaders are and that courts should not interfere in parties’ internal affairs. The implication is that aggrieved members whose rights are infringed cannot take parties to court. The protracted nature of the crisis owes much to the evasiveness of judicial pronouncements and failure to rein in political mischief and brigandage. 
   
Section 109 (g) of the Constitution is very clear on what to do when lawmakers abandon the party on whose platform they win elections. But repeated disobedience of the law has emboldened politicians to be crafty as was displayed in Delta, thus weakening the party system. 
   
There are rules of the game, which players must abide by. Nigeria operates a multi-party democracy and there must be room for divergence of political opinion. It is disturbing that opposition parties and politicians allow themselves to be emasculated and intimidated. They should be blamed for a lack of character and resilience to defend whatever ideology they profess. The alleged deployment of federal might under whatever guise to lure and cajole the opposition is condemnable. Such unethical tactics, including the subtle use of incentives to entice defectors, are not permitted in a civilised democracy. The country is not and should not be running an authoritarian government.
   
It is equally distressing that less than two years into the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, politicians are gearing more efforts towards 2027 permutations, rather than the delivery of the dividends of democracy. The warning by the World Bank that come 2027, Nigeria will slide more into poverty by a 3.6 percentage point should engage the government and politicians more, instead of its feckless romance with 2027. Good governance is the better path to winning elections.