The Nigerian Politician & The Penchant For U Turns By Femi Alafe-Aluko

The election season has commenced. Politicians are on the campaign trail. The Radio stations, TV stations and advertising companies are smiling to the bank.

Printers of campaign posters, hand bills and banners are having a field day. Sellers of face caps and T shirts are very happy.

State Governments and Local Governments are charging exorbitant fees for banners to be hosted in prime locations. It might be a means of curbing and discouraging political rivals. Likewise, it is a good source of raising the internal generated revenue (IGR) for the governments concerned.

The campaigns are in different forms. It can be in an open space, stadium or field. It can also be in form of a town hall format or door to door method. Different campaign Movements and Organizations are formed.

Empowerment programs, provision of transformers, medical outreaches, scholarships for students, emergency tarring and repairing of roads accompanied with elaborate publicity are the order of the day. Long conveys of branded vehicles line our potholed roads. It is the season when stored, stolen and embezzled money starts to circulate. Traditional rulers, transport unions, community leaders and opinion molders are courted. Although it is not for free.

During this period, every day is like Christmas for the political rough necks, thugs, area boys , alright sirs and the hanger ons. The candidate has to feed them on a daily basis. No wonder the first task of the winners when they get into their various offices is devising ways of how to recoup their money. They see it as returns on investment. Some would have sold land, cars, houses and taken huge loans from the bank.

The internet never forgets is a proverb, meaning that digital information once published can persist indefinitely, get archived or be reshared by others ,making it difficult to erase.

Most politicians are quick to make U turns on promises , stances and vows taken in the past. They have retracted from vows they made and swore to abide with or stick to. Many of them might have forgotten about it or pretend it was never said or written. They retract and make U turns due to greed, inordinate ambitions and lack of principles.

When Muhammadu Buhari lost the presidential election for the 3rd consecutive time in 2011 , taking his dissatisfaction up to the Supreme Court. He wept publicly, vowing never to present himself for election again. It showed his level of frustration. By 2015, he was again on the ballot after assurances from Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. On the 4th time he succeeded and spent 8 years at the Villa.

Peter Obi vowed never to leave the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). APGA was formed by Emeka Ojukwu. It was the platform on which Obi was elected as Governor of Anambra State in 2006. He publicly swore never to leave, describing the party as a key vehicle for Igbo political organization. Obi was Ojukwu’s political Godson in whom he was well pleased. Ojukwu died in 2011. In 2014, Obi had defected to PDP and became the party’s Vice Presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 general elections. He later moved to the Labour Party, contesting as its Presidential flag bearer in the 2023 elections.

As if that was not enough, on the 31st of December 2025, he officially joined ADC, claiming his movement was aimed at national renewal and a rescue journey for Nigeria. True to reputation ,his stay in the ADC was short lived. He is now contesting on the platform of the NDC led by Senator Seriake Dickson as its Presidential candidate for the 2027 elections. He has transcended and crisscrossed 5 political parties in 20 years. Talk of being consistently inconsistent!!

Rabiu Kwankwaso is a former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives from 1991 to 1992. From the 4th republic, starting in 1999, he served as governor of Kano state on the platform of PDP from 1999 to 2003 and 2011 to 2015. In 2014 he joined the APC, but after losing the Presidential primaries to Buhari, he returned to the PDP in 2018. Under PDP, he lost the Presidential primaries to Atiku. In 2022 he joined the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and emerged as its flag bearer for the 2023 elections. He came a distant 4th with about 6% of the votes. In 2026, he joined the ADC before finally settling in the NDC as its Vice Presidential candidate.

Hear him, he cannot be Peter Obi’s running mate, because a South East presidential ticket would struggle to win Northern votes. He invited Obi to be his vice under NNPP. He went further to state he is politically senior and more experienced than Obi, having served as Governor before him. Like Obi, he has passed through 5 political parties namely PDP,APC, NNPP, ADC and NDC. Today, he is Peter Obi’s running mate. Talk of political inconsistency. Birds of the same feather.

Nyesom Wike is now in the bedroom of the party he claimed has terminal cancer. Although he tells those who have the time to listen that he remains a committed member of the party that has malaria ( The PDP). In fact ,he has named himself the National leader of the PDP while serving in an APC administration. A party that is in intensive care. He vowed never to join the APC, but his son is contesting for the House of Representatives on the platform of the APC in Rivers State. Today he is the chief noise maker for the renewal of President Bola Tinubu’s tenure and the promoter of the Rainbow Coalition in Rivers State and FCT respectively.  Furthermore, he heads the APC Presidential Campaign Teams of both the State and the FCT in Abuja.

Rotimi Amaechi has some semblance with Kwankwaso. I saw him shout on Seun Okinbaloye’s TV program that he did not pay N90m to be a running mate to anyone. He went further to boast that he is too Presidential to be vice. He rhetorically stated the office and role is structurally subordinate. He would rather be a Minister than Vice President. What is Amaechi today? He is the Vice Presidential candidate to Atiku Abubakar on the ticket of the ADC. He is on his 3rd political party. The PDP, APC and ADC.

Ayodele Fayose is a former Governor of Ekiti on the platform of the PDP from 2003 to 2006 and 2014 to 2018. He has boasted severally on TV that he will never take any appointment from President Tinubu nor join APC. If he leaves PDP, he will retire from politics to be with his wife. Today, Fayose has taken an appointment from Tinubu as the Chairman of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). Further more , one of his sons is the APC candidate for a State Assembly seat in Ekiti State. He was selected unopposed.

Trust factors and consistencies seem to be alien in our political landscape. Talking from both sides of the mouth. Maybe according to the Ghanaian novelist and writer, Ayi Kwei Armah , ‘The beautiful ones are not yet born.’

• Femi Alafe-Aluko sent this in from Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State