by J. McE

The tweet from Elder Godsday Orubebe, announcing his intention to move to the APC, is just the latest in a long line of absurdities that often characterise Nigeria’s democracy.

Orubebe was made the Minister of the Niger Delta Ministry by Goodluck Jonathan in 2010, remained there till February this year. Most recently (and most famously) was the PDP agent for the final day of the collation of the Presidential election results.

In that hall on March 31st, he took the microphone and accused the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, or being partisan and rigging on behalf of the APC. This happened on live TV, and will go down as one of the most dramatic moments ever on Nigerian TV. Many feared that such an outburst was going to be a pretext for violence, but thankfully, that did not happen.

The man who employed him, Goodluck Jonathan, is still President for 10 more days, but Godsday Orubebe has already abandoned his boss and his party. On social media that day, some defended Orubebe’s actions. I wonder what they have to say about his tweets.

The APC have already said that decampees will not be taken in with abandon. This is a good decision, because with friends like Orubebe, you don’t need enemies.