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BORROWED ROOFS DON’T SHELTER: WHY POLITICIANS MUST BUILD ON SOLID FOUNDATION
By Owoola Daramola
_“Ile ti a ko le gbele, ko ni duro”_ — A house without a solid base cannot stand.
In Nigeria’s politics today, many leaders are trying to sleep under roofs built by other men. The landlord has left. The keys have changed. Yet they still knock, hoping the door will open.
*THE GALE OF DEFECTIONS: A HOUSE WITHOUT OWNERS*
Ahead of 2027, the political market is booming with cross-carpeting. From PDP, LP, and APGA to ADC. From opposition to APC. Senators, governors, lawmakers — all in search of “structure.”
*structure without ownership is an illusion.*
In Kano, the bid to bring Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and his Kwankwasiyya movement into APC has triggered a cold war with Ganduje’s loyalists, who refuse to surrender control.
In Delta, loyalists of Ovie Omo-Agege warn of the same fate. Since Governor Sheriff Oborevwori defected from PDP to APC, Omo-Age’s camp has been pushed to the margins.
Why? Because political parties are not rented apartments. They are family houses. As one PDP lawmaker in Niger said: _“Others who joined may leave, but I remain to rebuild the party after the storms. This is true leadership, not electoral survival.”_
*HISTORY’S WARNING: WHEN THE BUILDER DEMOLISHES THE HOUSE*
The signs are everywhere.
*1. The Wike Equation in Rivers*
Elected under PDP in 2015, Nyesom Wike later turned against his party. After his 2023 appointment as FCT Minister under APC, he used federal leverage to weaken PDP in Rivers and push loyalists into pro-APC arrangements. The result: a split structure and a ruling party in control.
*2. The 2014 Exodus*
Five PDP governors — Wamakko, Kwankwaso, Nyako, Amaechi, and Ahmed — defected to APC. They gained power, but lost roots. When the tide shifted, many ran back. No loyalty. Only leverage.
*3. Senegal’s Pastef Split*
Even beyond Nigeria, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is building a new party after breaking with Ousmane Sonko. His lesson: you cannot lead from a structure another man controls.
*EKITI LESSON: HIJACKED AT THE FOUNDATION*
We learned this the hard way in Ekiti.
In the last election, some of us tried to build a new structure across party lines for a common goal — unity, sacrifice, and a candidate for all.
But the adopted candidate didn’t understand the vision. Worse, the project was blackmailed and hijacked by those who wanted to cage the candidate to areas where they alone had control.
It was like building a house together, only for the co-tenants to lock the main rooms and tell you to stay in the corridor.
An Igbo proverb says: _“Onye ji aka ya kpaa akwa, ya mara ebe o gbawara”_ — He who sews his own cloth knows where it will tear.
We sewed. Others tore it to fit their size.
*Lesson: You cannot build with people who want control, not growth.*
*NO LOYALTY WITHOUT OWNERSHIP*
Nigerian parties are often “special purpose vehicles — strange bedfellows united only by the quest for power”. When the purpose shifts, the bedfellows scatter.
A Hausa proverb warns: _“Ba za ka gina gida a kan rufin wani ba”_ — You cannot build your house on another man’s roof.
A Chinese saying adds: _“If you want to build a tower to the sky, you must first dig deep foundations.”_
You cannot inherit loyalty. You must earn it. The delegates will vote with the hand that feeds their structure — and that hand belongs to the builder, not the borrower.
That is why some lawmakers insist on staying put. In Abia, Obinna Onwusibe declared: _“I’m still in LP”_ despite Peter Obi’s move to ADC.
*THE WAY OUT: DIG, BUILD, OWN*
If you must lead, then build:
1. *Identify your own loyalists* — people loyal to your vision, not to a logo.
2. *Lay an ideological foundation* — not just access to power. Without ideology, parties implode.
3. *Be patient* — Solid houses take time. But they stand when the storm comes.
As Nietzsche noted: _“There are men who desire power simply for the happiness it will bring; these belong chiefly to political parties.”_
But borrowed power is borrowed clothes. It never fits.
*FINAL WORD*
To the politician reading this: Stop knocking on a bolted door. Stop campaigning on a platform whose architect has moved site.
The crowd at the rally is not yours. The ward chairmen are not yours. The structure is not yours.
Build your own. Dig deep. Plant your own.
Because in politics, as in life: A borrowed foundation will always collapse under the weight of a new ambition.
_Owoola Daramola is a political analyst and commentator based in Nigeria._
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