Year of defections, real and imaginary hunger, and political abracadabra

The outgoing year has been full of drama and theatrics. A lot has happened on the political turf. The year has seen many politicians switch parties in a manner that raised apprehension in the polity.

It is a year that is marked by too many kidnapping incidents and mass killing by terrorists, whose activities have negatively put the country on global focus.

The National Assembly did not disappoint- it continued with its self-serving character. It is a bicameral legislature of anything goes, where personal considerations trump greater good of the citizenry.

Yet, it is also a year when there has been a dichotomy between figures and reality. It is a year of real and imaginary hunger, depending on the metrics employed.

Read also: US airstrikes expose double standards, FG must apologise to Obi – Big Tent Coalition

Between NBS figures and teary eyes on the street

From the outset of year 2025, Nigerians have continued to nurse the excruciating pains of adjusting to an economy that many believe has largely remained delinquent, despite the numbers from the government.

Greater part of this year has been devoted to fighting a war against insurgents, bandits, and other terror groups that continue to destabilise communities, mostly in the north. The battle has also been waged towards delivering basic governance, stabilising the economy, and relieving citizens from the crushing weight of rising living costs.

These wars by the government have caught millions of Nigerians in-between as they struggle to navigate both fear and hardship at the same time.

But figures from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have, since the second quarter of the year, continued to indicate that things are looking up. The figures from the NBS showed that inflation has continued to slow, the naira remains steady, but many citizens still believe that “charts and press briefings”, are not cutting it for them, as reality with them shows it is not yet a celebration morning.

Headline inflation, which peaked at 34.8 percent in 2024, slowed sharply, following the rebasing of the inflation basket, settling at 14.45 percent by the end of November. Food inflation also eased significantly, dropping from 26.08 percent in January to 11.08 percent in November.

Although many Nigerians do not doubt the figures, they are simply saying that they would continue to clap with one hand over the improvement of the economy on paper, until when their lives begin to be positively impacted by the numbers. So, for many households, 2025 is not a year of relief, but of endurance.

A year of political rolling stones

The year showed, at its worst, the fickle-mindedness of many political practitioners, as the country witnessed mass movements from one political party to another.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was the hardest hit with a tsunami as it were, resulting in the exodus of many state governors. In the last few months, a number of governors have moved from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and to the Accord Party (AP). The party-switching in the current dispensation began with Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State. He started out with a series of consultations, and then joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in March. But in November, he dumped the SDP for the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

El-Rufai accused the APC of straying from the progressive ideals of its founding fathers. He also alleged that the leadership of the SDP had been compromised.

Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, also dumped the PDP and moved into ADC, a move he formalized in November by picking its membership card.

There has been a flurry of defections by politicians, both those who are currently holding one post or another and those who are not. They are all strategizing ahead of the next round of general election due in 2027.

It is also a year that witnessed serious political maneuvering. The ruling class continues to lord it over the hapless citizens all in the name of governance.

Some of the political actors in Nigeria are known to be rolling stones when it comes to switching of parties. They have moved and moved so many times that it is no longer surprising what they can do at any given point in time.

The PDP has continued with its internal wrangling which got worsened, resulting in the exit of prominent members. The question on the lips of many citizens is whether the umbrella association would overcome its self-inflicted challenges before 2027.

Although many Nigerians view this junketing habit as political prostitution without ideology, the practitioners believe it serves their political career well. To them, we say, good luck.

Read also: Tinubu vows full scale operations against terrorism in Nigeria

Jittery Reps back destructive habit

The elected representatives of the people have abandoned those who put them in office. They make laws that help them to consolidate their hold on power. In Nigeria, it does not matter the platform on which politicians were elected into office, they align to any decision that promises them perpetuity.

This is why it has been difficult to find a member of the National Assembly, for instance, who openly rejects some of the “mails in their boxes.” None of them is known to have kicked against the humongous constituency allowances that have always been a controversial issue in society.

So, when a few days ago the House of Representatives refused to criminalise vote-buying at the level of party primaries, a terrible move which stakeholders have noted could further weaken Nigeria’s already fragile electoral system, many observers were not surprised.

Vote-buying, to put it in perspective, has been one of the ills threatening the credibility of the nation’s electoral process. Despite the welter of condemnation that has trailed this, political practitioners have continued to pay deaf ears.

The nation’s electoral process has been so messed up that moneybags believe that once they capture the tickets at the primary level, victory becomes a fait accompli. This mindset may have been strengthened these days when it seems that anybody contesting election on the APC platform may have won even before the exercise kicks off.

The danger of the tacit approval of vote-buying at party primaries is that such malfeasance could be easily deployed during general elections. The action of the Reps is clearly a setback for Nigeria’s democracy.

If we, as a nation want to check electoral fraud; if we want to institute credible elections in our country, the place to start is at the foundational stage of party primaries.

Just like some of the stakeholders have noted, what the House of Representatives has simply done was “to protect a broken system rather than safeguard the nation’s future.” Too bad!

Killings and kidnappings kill joy

The outgoing year witnessed troubling episodes of killings and kidnappings that attracted global attention. Apart from abductions on highways, there were a number of targeted kidnappings in some states across the North. Kebbi, Niger and Kwara witnessed mass abductions that rattled the seat of power in Abuja. Cases of unprovoked massacres in Benue, Plateau and some other places across the country became an issue of global politics as the President of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, raised a red flag. He threatened to take action against the worsening insecurity and particularly the activities of terrorists, which he believed were fueled by the inability of the federal government to go after the perpetrators. The designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) so rattled the Presidency that President Bola Tinubu has since suspended all his international engagements to give attention to the critical issues in his domain. It is believed that if the momentum is sustained, the issue of insecurity would be largely contained before the curtain is drawn on the current year.

Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date