Nigeria’s political defections are driven by personal interests- YPP National Chairman
The National Chairman of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Bishop Amakiri, has attributed the wave of defections sweeping across the nation’s political landscape were more of personal ambition than national interest.
He described the trend as “political interest defection” rather than “genuine people-focused realignment”.
Speaking on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief, Amakiri said political defection is a natural part of Nigeria’s democratic space, adding that the motives behind them often reveal deeper issues about the state of governance and leadership priorities in the country.
“The truth of the matter is that around the political space, you can’t take away people moving from one party to another,” he said. “But in this context, I will say there are two things: political interest defection and people’s interest projection,” he said.
According to Amakiri, political interest defection is not to address long-term developmental challenges.
“Those who push the agenda of political interest defection are always thinking about the next election and not the next generation. They prioritise politics over governance. Once they feel they can’t advance their political agenda within a party, they move elsewhere”, he added.
Amakiri urged Nigerians to ask more questions about the motives behind political realignments, warning that constant movement without a national vision leads to unstable governance and poor accountability.
He noted that until politicians begin to think beyond elections and focus on governance and generational impact, defections will continue to dominate the political conversation at the expense of real progress.
