From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Nigerian politicians across party lines and the leadership of all the registered political parties, under the umbrella of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), last week, rolled out drums, in frenzy style, to officially mark the centenary celebration of the formation, evolution, and existence of parties in the country.
To make the celebration, held in Abuja, a very unique, historic, and memorable one, the party leaders used the launch of a book titled “100 Years of Political Parties Evolution in Nigeria (1923–2023)” to create the needed awareness.
Although the usual colossuses in the political circle were conspicuously missing at the well-attended event, many strategic stakeholders were, however on hand to create the sensitisation for many Nigerians to be aware that the existence of political parties in the country has graduated from toddler to adulthood.
Remarkably, politicians across party divides, like former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, Dan Nwanyanwu, Sam Amadi, IPAC executives, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) among many others were on ground to make the event a very outstanding one.
The stakeholders that reviewed the 102 years of Nigeria’s political trajectory were in sync that political parties and by extension Nigeria’s democracy, are under severe threats due to a clear lack of credible opposition with internal cohesion, even as they expressed optimism about the bright future of Nigeria’s political parties.
Historically, from the formation of the first political party, the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) founded by Herbert Macuaulay in 1923, to the current registered 19 political parties, no fewer than over 150 parties have been formed, proscribed and deregistered at one point or the other.
From the benefit of hindsight, it is obvious that every new democratic dispensation had surprisingly thrown up new sets of political parties with mostly ethnic and regional colourations, devoid of national outlook.
It is also obvious that during each democratic republic, Nigerians have always witnessed very insignificantly few numbers of visible and viable political parties regardless of the multitudes of registered parties in existence.
In the first republic, for example, out of the over 20 political parties in operation, only very few ones like Action Group (AG), National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons/National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), Northern People’s Congress (NPC), Northern Progressive Front (NPF), and perhaps United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) were viable enough to make any significant impact while others could be described as regional champions.
For many political watchers, there was nothing significantly different between the parties in the first republic and with preceding second republic. Among the seven political parties that fielded candidates for the general elections, only four parties were electable.
They ranged from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), and Nigerian People’s Party (NPP), to the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) while others like Greater Nigerian People’s Party (GNPP), Movement of the People Party (MPP) and Nigeria Advance Party (NAP) struggled to remain relevant.
Perhaps, conscious of the fact that the impacts made by other multitudes of parties in the previous republics were minimally insignificant, former Military Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida, had registered only two political parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to participate in the third republic general elections, especially the presidential election, still considered the fairest and freest poll in the country till date.
After the Sani Abacha’s ill-fated political era, when the political parties were popularly tagged the five leprosy fingers, the situation, unfortunately and regrettably, regressed in the fourth republic with all manners of political parties springing up, resulting in the then electoral umpire endorsing and registering more than 90 parties to contest the elections.
It became that bad that some of the political parties were only portfolio in nature, existing only by names and inside the briefcases of the stakeholders or sometimes the very few men behind the parties, without any visible or verifiable office structure in any part of the country, let alone a known ideological leaning.
In retrospect, the fourth republic marked the worst era of the evolution of political parties in the country. It was the period many of the parties materialistically relied on the endorsement of other bigger and more active parties to remain relevant and in existence.
The shameless defections, and cross-carpeting by the politicians where one could be Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the morning, All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the afternoon, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at night, just to underscore their desperation and quest for political power and positions became the order of the day.
Perhaps, rattled by the disgraceful and undemocratic activities of the party leaders and the stakeholders, in addition to the determination of the electoral commission, who hitherto lowered the bar, displaying high-level of regulatory lukewarmness in handling the parties, had suddenly wielded the big sanctioning stick and deregistered an unprecedented number of 74 political parties in one fell swoop in the 2020 political season.
Currently, the 19 registered political parties comprised, Accord Party(AP), Action Alliance (AA), African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Democratic Party (ADP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Action Peoples Party (APP), Boot Party (BP), Labour Party (LP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP), Youth Party (YP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
From all indications, however, there seems to be a semblance of sanity in the registered parties, but in reality, many of them still seem to exist only in names, offices, and past glory, as they lack the needed conspicuousness required of vibrant political parties.
For many pundits, what could lay more credence to the assertion that the parties could still be toddlers at centenary appears evident in the show of shame at Wadata House, the national headquarters of the main opposition party, the PDP, where the leadership crisis took worsening dimension while the centenary event was ongoing, confirming the unhealthy situation of almost all the opposition parties.
While admitting that all is clearly not well with the parties, social critic, Sam Amadi, in his assessment of the evolution of the political parties, argued that they have not been able to gravitate from regional and ethnic standard to national level.
Hear him; “In the past centenary, it has been difficult to create a party that is not ethnic and ideologically coherent. What we still have today is ethnic, and regional parties not ones with a national outlook.”
Former governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, while appraising the problems confronting Nigerian political parties, in an exclusive interview with Daily Sun recently, blamed it on lack of internal democracy, especially his former party, the PDP.
He said: “They derailed when there was no longer internal democracy in the parties, which is the bane of Nigerian democracy and affecting everybody, including all the parties. If we tell ourselves the truth, everybody knows that there is no difference between the PDP, other opposition parties, and the ruling APC.
“They have all become the same in terms of ideological composition and that is why the actors can easily and shamelessly jump from one political party to the other without caring about their reputation and integrity. There are very insignificant numbers of politicians who have not decamped from one party to the other several times.
“There is no significant name in Nigerian politics, perhaps except President Tinubu, that has not moved from one different political party to the other, once, twice, and even three times. They will sometimes go and come back and still move and return without any iota of shame. So, what is a political party in a country where all of them are entirely the same?” Attah said in his assessment of the parties.
Similarly, INEC boss, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, while weighing in on the state of the political parties, had warned them that their instant disputations and litigations have become sources of disruptions to the electoral process in the country.
Represented at the event by National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Elumeku, the chairman said: “One of the key responsibilities of political parties is the conduct of credible primary elections. Internal party democracy is the foundation upon which credible general elections are built.”
He further said that “effective leadership recruitment is made possible only when eligible persons, with capacity, are selected through duly conducted party primaries and put up for elections and when political parties uphold democratic principles in their internal processes. It enhances public confidence in the electoral system and strengthens democratic governance.
“Unfortunately, we have witnessed instances where lack of internal democracy has led to disputes, litigations, and disruptions in the electoral process. It is, therefore, imperative that political parties remain committed to transparent, fair, and credible primaries,” he cautioned.
While charting a new course for the parties, Yakubu said: “as we move towards future elections, I urge all political parties to strengthen their internal governance mechanisms and ensure that their processes reflect the will of their members. A democratic society begins with democratic political parties. Political parties must invest in building strong and law-abiding institutions with distinct ideological leanings, rather than in installing behemoths.”
Then, former SGF, Anyim, while charging the political actors that it is high time they took responsibility for uniting the country and fostering national cohesion, remarked that the solutions to the persistent problem of political instability in the country may be a few inches away.
“By documenting Nigeria’s experiences in political party formation, evolution, and management over the last 100 years, IPAC has demonstrated leadership and commitment to finding solutions to the persistent problem of political instability in our beloved country.
“An unstable polity weakens the authority of government and constrains its ability to guarantee security and development. Without overcoming mutual suspicion, every other factor affecting our progress and stability stems from our inability to effectively manage our plural composition. The responsibility is ours, and I dare say, the burden is on this generation. If I may borrow the words of Gen. Yakubu Gowon: ‘This is a task that must be done,’ and the time is now,” Anyim charged.
Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, in his assessment of the party evolution, argued that despite their vulnerable states, it is obvious that democracy has come to stay in the country.
He noted that; “despite military interventions, democracy has come to stay in Nigeria. There is no substitute for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, which democracy represents, as sovereignty resides with the people. Our democracy has been tested and shaken by reactionary forces and has survived. This is a testament to citizens’ belief in and resilience towards representative governance.
“It is imperative to explore political parties’ development priorities to consolidate the nation’s democracy and create an environment conducive to successful elections and political stability, in line with the IPAC mandate,” the retired military officer charged the party leaders.
Head of tail, what is obvious is that despite the long years of existence, it should be worrisome that Nigerian political parties are still held down by the heavy weight of lack of internal democracy, ideological identities, unhealthy rivalry in sponsoring crisis, and instant disputations and litigations.
Therefore, it will be foolhardy, according to many pundits, to think that the evolution of political parties has been anything worthy of emulation with almost all the registered parties confronted with one form of intractable leadership crisis or the other, while the ruling party is clearly celebrating their deplorable states.
Only recently, the National Secretary of the APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, while responding to the impression that the ruling party is fuelling the crisis in the opposition parties, stated that it is worth celebrating.
Surprisingly, admitting the allegation from the former governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-rufai, that APC is working to mortgage opposition parties in Nigeria, Basiru boldly said: “as a leader in the APC, should he not be happy that the opposition to his political party is not getting themselves right?
“Is it APC that went to Wadata today to cause the crisis? This is a competition. As a political party, our concern is for those who fly the flag of our party to win elections. So, as far as other parties are concerned, let them get their acts together. How does it concern our party if they don’t get it right?
“If there are political parties that are not doing well, is it our job to help them put their house in order? Speaking frankly, we should be happy that they are getting weakened. That means that our party will be the only party of choice for anybody aspiring for progressive leadership in Nigeria,” he declared.