Abuja — The Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Dr. Sam Amadi, has criticized the growing trend of state governors defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), describing the move as a contradiction of the very purpose of state creation in Nigeria.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, monitored by DAILY POST, Amadi said the rush by governors to align with the federal government undermines the principles of federalism and economic decentralisation.
According to him, states were created to independently harness their resources and drive development, not to depend entirely on the centre.
“The idea of having a state is to be able to harness your resources and develop,” Amadi said. “We have not gotten economics right in terms of development. Now that everybody is running to the centre, are we returning to a centralized system?”
He added that while Nigeria may have made some political progress, its economic framework for development remains flawed.
“So basically, we have not gotten economics right in terms of development, maybe politics in some sense,” he noted.
DAILY POST reports that several governors have recently defected from their political parties to the APC. States affected include Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Enugu, Kano, Plateau, and most recently, Taraba.
The defections have continued to spark debate over the future of opposition politics and the balance of power within Nigeria’s federal system.
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