There is an old African proverb which says: “When a goat begins to eat from the refuse dump, it soon forgets the difference between vegetables and nylon.” That proverb perfectly captures the present political comedy playing out in Delta State.
The NDC and ADC have suddenly transformed themselves into political pit latrines and refuse dumps — open spaces where every rejected, expired, smelling and politically decomposed element believes there is still room to land. In those parties, nobody asks questions. Nobody checks ideological temperature. Nobody asks where you are coming from or what disaster you caused before arriving. Once you can crawl, limp, stagger, or be wheelbarrowed in, you are welcomed with drums and stale rice.
Indeed, these Parties have become like public refuse bins beside a market during rainy season. Everything enters there: rotten tomatoes, dead rats, leaking pampers, broken buckets, expired ambitions and failed politicians. The only thing missing is a signboard saying: “Bring Your Political Waste Here.”
In APC, there is structure, competition, discipline and political relevance. You must prove capacity. You must show strength. You must convince the people. But in NDC and ADC, the story is different. The moment APC closes its gate against unseriousness and political indiscipline, these parties quickly open their back doors shouting, “Come inside! Even if the people rejected you, we can still manage you!”
It is becoming a rehabilitation centre for political casualties.
One begins to wonder whether these parties are political organisations or emergency shelters for rejected ambition.
An elder once said: “The vulture does not reject rotten meat.” That is exactly the situation. APC leads and sets the pace, while NDC and ADC wait eagerly like roadside scavengers hoping to inherit whatever APC throws away. If APC sneezes, they catch cold. If APC disciplines a member, they rush with buckets to collect the tears.
What kind of politics is this?
A politician abuses a Party in the morning, condemns its leadership in the afternoon, and by evening is negotiating for automatic tickets elsewhere. Tomorrow he will speak about “rescue mission” and “moving Delta forward.” Forward to where? To the refuse dump?
This is no longer politics. This is pure rascality decorated in agbada.
Politics is supposed to be built on principles, ideology, conviction and loyalty. But what we see today resembles a village masquerade running mad in the marketplace. People move from one party to another like hungry goats jumping fences in search of cassava peels.
The tragedy is that NDC and ADC appear excited about it. They celebrate every defector as though they have captured a political lion, whereas most of them are merely political mechanics whose vehicles have refused to start. Some could not win their polling units. Some cannot gather ten youths under a mango tree without sharing transport fare. Yet, immediately they threaten to leave APC, desperate Parties begin to promise them tickets as if they are electoral messiahs.
One proverb says: “When a drowning man sees a floating coffin, he mistakes it for a rescue boat.” That is the current romance between failed politicians and these parties.
Imagine a student repeatedly failing examinations but still demanding to be made class captain. That is exactly what is happening. Political failure is now seeking promotion through defection.
The funniest part is the sudden grammar that follows every movement. Somebody who could not maintain relevance in APC suddenly begins to speak about “democracy,” “justice,” “consultation,” and “inclusive participation.” These are usually the same people who disappeared after elections only to reappear when ticket season arrives.
If political inconsistency were an Olympic sport, some of these defectors would win gold medals for Delta State.
The truth remains obvious: APC is the dominant political force. Others survive largely by feeding on bitterness, recycled grievances and rejected ambitions. APC is the big river; the others are seasonal gutters waiting for rainwater.
And there is another proverb for them: “A refuse dump may grow taller, but it never becomes a mountain.”
No serious political party builds its future by assembling every disgruntled politician with a cracked ambition. When every rejected item becomes valuable simply because it was rejected elsewhere, then standards have collapsed completely.
One must ask: if these politicians were truly transformational leaders, why were they unable to survive where real political competition exists? Why do they suddenly become attractive only after rejection?
The answer is simple. A drowning political structure will celebrate even a leaking canoe.
NDC and ADC have become political orphanages where failed ambition goes for emotional support. There, everyone is promised “automatic ticket,” “stakeholder recognition,” and “strategic relevance.” It is the same way roadside herbalists promise to cure headache, broken leg, infertility and spiritual attack with one bottle of concoction.
Sadly, the electorate is wiser today. Delta people know the difference between genuine leadership and political tourism. You cannot continue jumping from one Party to another like a cricket escaping broom strokes and expect people to clap for you.
As our elders wisely say: “The fly that has no adviser follows the corpse into the grave.”
Political prostitution disguised as strategy will never replace integrity, loyalty and genuine service. Parties that specialise in collecting APC rejects may make temporary noise, but noise alone does not build political credibility.
In the end, a pit latrine may receive every kind of waste, but nobody mistakes it for a dining table.
And that is precisely the political tragedy of NDC and ADC in Delta State.
Dr Okubor wrote from Ute Erumu in Ika North East LGA, Delta State