BY: HighCelebritySquard
A total of 23 serving governors across 18 states dumped the political parties on whose platforms they were elected for other parties since Nigeria’s return of democratic rule in 1999.
Sokoto, Imo, and Abia states have recorded more defections by incumbent governors in the last 24 years, findings by A reliable source reports.
While Sokoto has had three of its serving governors jumping ship, Abia and Imo states have recorded two of such incidents.
Findings reveal that while 13 of these defecting governors are from the north, 10 are from the southern part of the country. Also the highest number of serving governors who dumped their parties happened under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The defections happened within 10 political parties, some of which no longer exist due to merger or deregistration.
The parties are All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA), Alliance for Democracy (AD), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), All Progressives Congress (APC)
Others are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Democratic People’s Party (DPP), Action Congress (AC), Labour Party (LP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
A reliable source reports that there are four ways through which a serving governor can be removed from office as provided for in the 1999 Constitution (as amended). They are death, resignation, incapacitation and impeachment. Defection is not one of them.
However, while seven defections happened between 2007 and 2015, five governors defected between 1999 and 2007.
Also, the North West zone has the highest number of defections. In this zone eight incumbent governors dumped their parties for others, in Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Kebbi and Jigawa states.
The South East takes second place as five governors from Abia, Imo, and Ebonyi defected from their parties while in office.
In the North East, three cases of defection were recorded in Bauchi and Adamawa states. In the South-South states of Rivers, Cross River and Edo, three defections have happened since 1999.
There were two cases of defections in North-central region (Benue and Kwara states). Like North Central, only two defections happened in South West zone (Lagos and Ondo states).
Kaduna and Katsina are the only states in the North West whose governors remained in the parties they were first elected till the expiration of their tenure in the last 22 years.
Overall, Sokoto State tops the chart of serving governors who defected to other parties. The three governors of the state from 1999 to 2023, Attahiru Bafarawa, Aliyu Wamakko and Aminu Tambuwal, all jumped ship.
While Bafarawa left ANPP for DPP; his successor, Wamakko dumped PDP for APC and Tambuwal left APC for the PDP.
Abia, Adamawa, Imo, Zamfara states have had two cases of defections each. In Abia, Orji Kalu dumped PDP for PPA, while his successor, Theodore Orji. left PPA for PDP.
For Adamawa, Boni Haruna moved from PDP to AC, while Murtala Nyako left PDP for APC.
In Imo, Ikedi Ohakim defected from PPA to PDP, while Rochas Okorocha left APGA for APC.