Since 1999 when the democratic institution began in Nigeria, political parties have been changing in a repeated cycle due to betrayal, fragmentation, collapse and re-invention. Beneath these structures are the display of emotions like humiliations, mistrust, exclusion, fear of relegation and irrelevance that are rarely addressed by the political parties.
The on-going political crisis in the Peoples Democratic Parties (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and other political parties has created new patterns. Nigeria’s political parties are not developed to institution but temporary congregation of elites who can leave the party at any slight of provocation.
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The unfortunate thing about political parties is not about ambition, money or zoning arrangement but at the heart is that Nigerian political parties are constantly fighting to avoid political humiliation. That is why when one faction feels ignored; the conflict becomes an existential problem. What is happening between the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike who are fighting for the soul of the PDP today is a clear example of how leaders in a political party can turn issue of national interest to an existential one.
Once there is a political disagreement among politicians, they begin to migrate or port to another party to regain relevance. That is why there is regularity in political defections in the political arena like rituals. Today there is upswing movement of politicians from the party that put them in power to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to gain relevance.
Many politicians leave their original parties because their dignity has been battered and what political analysts call “the unspoken engine of Nigeria politics”. That is why political parties in Nigeria collapse the way relationship collapse not gradually but all at once like a pack of cards. From independence till now, there is no political parties formed that has been sustained. They come and go and people come together again to form other parties which in time will collapse and it continues on and on.
The implication of all of these for our democracy is that if political parties are not strong, our democracy will not be strong too. If personalities in the parties are subservient to parties, the institution will be weakened. If there is fragmentation, then accountability collapses and if the parties collapse, voters will lose faith in politics. As things stands now, Nigeria may be drifting towards one party state not because of the invincibility of the ruling All Progress Congress (APC) but because of the implosion of parties who bleeds under the weight of unresolved internal crisis. This trajectory threatens tenets of democracy and the legitimacy of elections, stability of governance and public trust. Democracy is alive when there is healthy competition among political parties.
By Gabriel Akinlade-Daniel
