Anyim’s Surprised Defection from PDP

In a move that surprised political analysts, former President of the Senate, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, recently defected from the PDP to the APC.

Though it is within his constitutional rights to join any political party of his choice, Anyim’s decision to leave the party is a huge betrayal.

 Under the PDP, Anyim was the President of the Senate from 2000 to 2003, and later Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

According to analysts, Anyim was not supposed to have abandoned the PDP even if it was sinking in his estimation, even if he was the last man standing.

Having built a glorious political career through the PDP, the former senate president was supposed to have remained in the party and work with other leaders to rebuild it to regain power or form a viable opposition that would check the excesses of the ruling party and further deepen the country’s democracy.

There is a stage in a man’s life where leaving a good legacy should be his target and not political gains. Otherwise what other higher political position is he looking for in the ruling party at this stage in his political career that made him to abandon a party he joined in 1998? 

When asked why he was leaving the PDP, Anyim merely gave the impression that he left because other PDP leaders had defected from the party and did not offer any other logical explanations.

  “Can you look back at the history of the PDP and tell me how many leaders the PDP has produced that had joined the APC or another party at any particular point in time? It’s common. But importantly, I am determined to be sure that the country moves on the right path, and I should be available to contribute my quota.”

Asked if he could not have contributed his quota from the opposition party, he said, “contributing quota does not necessarily mean to work, but to engender a conducive atmosphere for progress.

“I’m not looking for work, but there is a need that given the challenges the country is facing today, we all need to put all hands-on deck to make the country move forward,” Anyim reportedly said.

Anyim’s defection, no doubt, does not portray him as a good statesman. By subtly encouraging a one-party system with his defection, he is also unfair to Nigeria’s democracy.