A former deputy governor of Oyo state, Alhaji Hazeem Gbolarumi, has revealed reasons why he has never defected to another party since he aligned with the Peoples Democratic Party.
In an interview with Nigerian Tribune, the party chieftain opined that he does not support defection from one party to the other.
He said that he does not believe in defection when he is benefitting from his party.
He disclosed that one of the reasons that call for defection is when the members are no longer seeing benefits in their original party and then seek for greener pastures by decamping.
“I really don’t believe in defection; why would someone leave a party that made him and defect to another? You will find out that most of those who defect to other parties had benefited from their original parties, in the first place; they had been given positions by their parties and maybe when they are no longer getting what they want, they defect. This only shows self-centredness; they are not the only ones in that party, so why should they defect when they don’t get what they want? It means they are just fighting for their own benefit, and not for the people they are meant to serve. I can tell you that about 40 percent of their followers don’t defect with them to the new parties.
“If you have not benefited from a party is another thing entirely, but if you have been member of the House of Representatives, member of the Senate, or governor, or you have benefited in one way other and you defect to another party because you are not having your way on a particular issue, then that’s only selfishness.
“Why will I defect to any other party when I have benefitted from many party, the PDP? I was a deputy governor of the state and I have benefitted from the party in several other ways. As I said earlier, I don’t understand why people defect to other parties after benefitting from a party; most had held top political positions and when they see that a new setting does not favour them, they move to another party.
“This is the period to even stay and mentor the younger generation on how politics is played. We shouldn’t be self-centered when we are not the only person in the party,” he said.
