In democratic dispensations across the globe, political parties are known to play very critical roles. The strategic functions of these important organs are central to the successes and failures of partisan politics.
The existence and activities of political parties in Nigeria in the fourth republic have, no doubt, either shaped or stagnated the deepening and consolidation of the country’s democracy, especially as the country’s constitution gives room for a multi-party system.
This constitutional provision has, indeed, resulted in a situation where the country is now saddled with the existence of many ‘impotent’ political parties, most of which are said to have even become moribund, aside from the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party. Also, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) controls only Anambra, just one out of Nigeria’s 36 states.
As at the last count, Nigeria has no fewer than 40 recognised political parties with more than 80 other political associations awaiting registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
At a meeting with political parties in March, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, announced the re-registration of 10 parties earlier de-registered in deference to a court order.
The re-registered parties are Better Nigeria Peoples Parties (BNPP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Peoples Progressives Party (PPP), Democratic Alternative (DA), National Action Council (NAC) and National Democratic Liberty Party (NDLP). Also re-registered are Masses Movement of Nigeria (MMN), National Conscience Party (NCP), Nigeria Element Progressive Party (NEPP) and National Unity Party (NUP).
Three former political parties in the country – Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) had merged in 2013 to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).
One of the de-registered parties, Fresh Democratic Party (FDP), had challenged INEC’s action in court. Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had declared in 2013 as unconstitutional the de-registration of political parties. The court also declared the electoral body’s action as strange to the 1999 Constitution.
The country has since been tending towards a twoparty state, with most of the registered political parties lacking both membership and the financial wherewithal to field candidates for elective positions
Also, delivering a judgment on July 26, 2006, in a suit filed by the NCP, the Appeal Court declared unconstitutional, null and void INEC guidelines and certain section of the 2001 Electoral Act on party registration.
Widening political space Now with the re-registration of political parties by INEC, the space has once again been widened for registered political parties and aspiring political associations to freely operate on the nation’s political turf. Analysts are, however, of the view that inspite of the increasing number of registered parties, only few of them really made any appreciable impact during past elections in the country.
They argue that since 1999, when the then existing registered parties-the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the governorship and National Assembly elections, the country has not experienced any form of competition among all the registered political parties.
Rather, the country has since been tending towards a two-party state, with most of the registered political parties lacking both membership and the financial wherewithal to field candidates for elective positions.
This, they say, has been the reason why only few political parties have continued to win elections into the executive and legislative arms of government. Some other analysts also note that the race to register political parties heightened between 2002 and 2010 mainly because of the yearly subvention INEC was giving them, adding that the process became less attractive when the disbursement was stopped and the electoral body raised registration fee from N100, 000 to N1 million.
They, however, attribute the current rush to register new political parties to the hope by some of their promoters to reap from the crises currently rocking both the ruling APC and the main opposition PDP by offering their aggrieved members their platforms to realise their political ambitions.
The small parties are also said to be in habit of using their platform to make money by backing the candidates of the big parties during elections.
Analysts further say that though many Nigerians may not be comfortable with such an arrangement, the country is gradually moving towards the two-party system.
An advocate of the two-party system and former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, believes that the people’s choice as witnessed during the aborted third republic with his National Republican Convention and the Social Democratic Party is guarranteed.
However, the general belief is that the multi-party system promotes national integration and affords the citizens wider choice, to some observers, many of the parties only exist to meet their founders’ selfish desires.
A Lagos-based political analyst, John Adeyemi, noted that the smaller parties would continue to miss The Point that it’s not compulsory for them to field candidates for national elections.
Adeyemi said that the smaller parties could justify their continued existence by latching on issues of national importance and setting agenda for the government.
Their non-insistence on participation in national elections, he argued, would make such processes less stressful for the electorate and INEC.
He added that it was unnecessary to always include the smaller parties in the ballot papers during national elections because of the “nuisance they usually constitute during elections due to their large numbers.”
During the 2015 general elections, over 30 political parties were registered by INEC, but only 16 of them participated in the presidential election with 17 declaring support for the candidacy of the then president Goodluck Jonathan.
Such a declaration for the incumbent, it is believed, detracted so much from the value of Nigeria’s democracy.
It has been observed that during electioneering period, the smaller parties, which had been comatose over the years suddenly come alive on posters at street corners, only to negotiate with the bigger parties and eventually declare support for them.
With this unenviable existing situation, political pundits are of the view that the smaller parties only, more or less, complicate the condition of Nigeria’s democracy.
They accuse the parties of surreptitiously trading in votes, adding that they should be sanctioned by the appropriate authorities.
While observers still argue that the smaller parties do not promote democracy, some others say their antics do not negate the political practice elsewhere in the world. However, others believe that the smaller political parties should seek elective offices at the grassroots, based on well-thought out and tested ideology, rather than dissipating energy on seeking national elective offices.
Speaking on the development, a stalwart of APGA and former chairman of Orumba South Local Government Area, Owelle Godson Obi, said, “What these political parties need is to reposition themselves so that they will be able to win elections in the places where they are popular or where their candidates are very popular.”
From the horses’ mouth
Also, the Director of Publicity and Strategy of the SDP in Oyo State, Alhaji Wale Adele, argued that if the smaller parties could be properly managed, they could dominate their environment.
Adele made specific reference to the AC, which he said initially controlled only one state but later took over the entire South West geo-political zone before it fused into the present APC.
He assured that with the caliber of members in the SDP, the party could spring surprises during future elections in the country.
NCP National Chairman, Alhaji Tanko Yunusa, said there was nothing wrong with a party forming an alliance with other political parties for the purpose of winning an election.
“For us in the NCP, we don’t see anything wrong in alliance since its purpose is to realise a good ambition. Change would never drop from the sky. And for this to be achieved, the Nigerian masses need to get politically conscious and organised. Joining the National Conscience Party is a step in this direction,” he said.
The PDM National Chairman, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, said, “Every political party goes through a process of realignment and renewal after every general election.
The existence of the smaller political parties is a true reflection of democracy in Nigeria. Though they appear to be too many, but with time, true parties with the love of this nation at heart will emerge
“The PDM is not different. We are speaking to major stakeholders in Nigeria’s politics and they are speaking to us. The general consensus is that there is a dire need to find a third option to moving our nation forward and PDM is at a the centre of these discussions.”
SDP National secretary, Dr. Sadiq Gombe, said that the party, which was formerly known as the SDMP, was a champion of merger in Nigeria.
“Prior to the 2011 election, we were the ones, who initially summoned the CPC of Buhari, the ACN of Tinubu and Atiku, the ANPP and APGA, to a meeting, to say enough of PDP misrule; that we needed to come together to salvage the situation. Unfortunately, when the merger eventually took place they did not invite us because they felt we did not have any major elected public office holder.
“They don’t believe in smaller parties in this country and the only time you are a smaller party is when you don’t win any election.”
The presidential candidate of the KOWA Party in the 2015 election, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, however, said, “Kowa, being a party with true democratic ideology, will always welcome realignment but with people of like minds. We cannot accommodate these same people who have nothing but their selfish interest at the expense of the suffering the masses.
YDP National Chairman, Alhaji Shettima Yerima, explained that, “The only edge that the bigger or the ruling parties have is that they are being funded by government. These parties should be compelled to run like the younger political parties. But if the ruling party will go into the national purse, take money and fund the party, there is nothing wrong for the small parties adopting whatever style they believe favours them.”
National Chairman of the PRP and former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, argued that the smaller parties should not be suffocated out of Nigeria’s political space, adding that they remained the alternatives for the people.
“The existence of the smaller political parties is a true reflection of democracy in Nigeria. Though they appear to be too many, but with time, true parties with the love of this nation at heart will emerge. As you know that big parties have failed the nation and that is why Nigeria need to seek salvation in the parties that have not ruled them.
Speaking on the practice whereby the smaller parties only become active in the run-up to the elections, the elder statesman said, .“There is nothing wrong with that. Electorate is the main determinants of candidates when it comes to elections. If some of them merge with the big parties, the remaining one will stand for true representation of democracy. And as I told you, electorate determine the fate of all political parties.”
INEC’s pledge
The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi said that the electoral body would continue to respect the law by not de-registering political parties. “It is the responsibility of the political parties to brace up and make their parties known. As far as we are concerned, we are not going to deregister them if they are less popular. They are still political parties. INEC doesn’t deregister,” Oyekanmi said.
