As Nigeria’s political stage buzzes with defections, Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde has reacted to the development, saying there’s only one defection that truly matters, the day hunger and poverty finally leave the country.
Reacting to the recent wave of governors abandoning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Makinde said Nigerians should be more worried about when economic hardship would “defect” from their lives, rather than political realignments.
“I am sure many of you have been following the recent defections of politicians, especially the governors who have left the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress and other parties,” Makinde wrote in his bi-monthly newsletter released on Thursday.
“With these defections, political pundits have been busy reading meanings into every handshake and silence. I have watched as our national conversation once again turns to who is moving rather than what is moving. For me, the only defection that truly matters is the one that has not happened yet, the defection of hunger,” he said.
Makinde’s reflective message comes at a time when many Nigerians were still under cost pressures. He lamented that while political realignments dominate the headlines, families are forced to make painful choices just to survive.
“When I was asked about this wave of political cross-carpeting in a recent press conference, I said, ‘I will only be moved when hunger defects into the APC.’ I meant every word of it,” he added.
The governor also warned that widening inequality was quietly fuelling anger and despair across the country.
“We cannot continue pretending that everything is fine simply because someone in the government says so. What we are experiencing is the widening of inequality. While the rich are adjusting, the poor are sinking, and that is what must command our attention,” Makinde stated.
He emphasised that only Nigerians, not politicians or party strategists, would decide the outcome of the 2027 general election, urging the PDP to rebuild public trust by presenting credible solutions to the nation’s economic hardship.
“No matter what the analysts predict, and no matter how many defections are engineered, it is the Nigerian people who will decide the outcome of the 2027 elections,” he said, adding that the PDP would use its forthcoming national convention in Ibadan as a moment to “reset and reassert its values.”
“Our job in the PDP is to continue to provide proof that we can deliver relief where others have brought pain. Let others defect for convenience. Let us stand firm for conscience. Because when hunger finally defects, prosperity will return and so will our pride as a people,” he said.
Makinde’s reflections come amid a wave of political crossovers in recent months, as several PDP figures have defected to the ruling APC.
