Kamala Harris joining Donald Trump’s Republican Party is unimaginable. The Democrats are proud of their party, win or lose.

To be principled is a way of life in and out of politics. Nigerian politics sounds like Nollywood, full of turncoats and undertakers. Nearly 65 years of independence, the political class continues to brew fellows who stand for nothing but claim to be on the side of the people.

They are empty drums and they make noise most. Former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was right when he said dogs were more loyal than Nigerian politicians.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is supposed to be the main opposition party, fighting to grab power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Unfortunately, the former ruling party is more opposed to itself than the party in power.

Instead of putting their house in order, party chieftains are running away, like saboteurs, to join forces with the same APC that swept them away from Aso Villa in 2015.

It is strange that neither Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo nor Dr. Goodluck Jonathan can bring back what was once touted as the largest movement in Africa. Of course, PDP is moving closer to the grave than anywhere else. Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who wanted to be Vice President of the country under Abubakar Atiku in 2023, has abandoned the party.

He took along with him everything about the umbrella and dumped them inside the Agbada pocket of APC chairman Abdullahi Ganduje. Ganduje, the Magnanimous, has a way of winning souls for his party. There must be something inside those bulging pockets that attracts people. With grinding poverty all over the polity, even dullards can distinguish dollars from naira. There are no big politicians anymore.

The language of the pound and euro has a way of hounding many into submission. Once out of power, the same people who enjoyed a spending spree, go broke easily and turn to reformed beggars, running from one government house to the other.

We believe that Fourth Republic politicians think more about themselves than the people they pretend to be representing. There is no ideological leaning

The next presidential elections in 2027 will be interesting. There is every possibility that there will be no PDP on the ballot paper. The party is like a battlefield. It is more than a Civil War.

What we see is massive destruction. Generals have abandoned their troops and crossed over to the other side. And these defectors are lucky. There will be no trials akin to Nuremberg or the Adebayo Panel.

The consequence is inconsequential. Those holding the umbrella today have brooms in their pockets and can be converted to street cleaners, from Asaba to Benin, to Lagos and straight to Abuja. Remarkably, President Bola Tinubu, the man in whom defectors are well pleased, had never abandoned his party, from day one.

He stood with the Alliance for Democracy (AD) even when the party became Action Congress (AC) and later transformed to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

It was the battle to oust PDP from power that took ACN to the political conglomerate that emerged bearing the name APC. Sadly, the new PDP defectors became cowards in opposition, choosing to dine with APC instead of waging a political battle.

Tinubu will be having a good laugh. The death of PDP is to his advantage. While his APC confronted PDP headlong in 2015, the PDP cannot stand the heat of battle, two long years to 2027. What this shows is that there are many bread and butter politicians in the polity.

With this development, the citizens are left on their own. Relying on politicians to wrest power from the APC, is like believing that the United States will join Hamas against Israel in the War on Gaza. And this wait will be like forever. We believe that Fourth Republic politicians think more about themselves than the people they pretend to be representing.

There is no ideological leaning. Democrats are as conservative as Progressives. This is purely politics of the stomach. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, a founding member of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) never left the party from August 26, 1944 until January 15, 1966 when the military struck.

He was constant in his beliefs. Even when Kingsley Mbadiwe and Kola Balogun, both serving ministers questioned Zik’s leadership on June 14, 1958 and were expelled for that, both men quit their jobs and by August 4, 1958, Mbadiwe floated a new party, Democratic Party of Nigeria and the Cameroons. He did not defect to another party.

Today, governors’ defect, they do not resign from office. Legislators move from one party to the other, fighting to maintain their seats. It does appear that there is no shame anymore. There is little to distinguish a politician from a Red Light District commercial sex worker. (New Telegraph Editorial)