Political parties are failing Nigerians yet again

The lack of internal democracy, mobilising political support along tribal and regional lines, and using violence to intimidate rivals or force certain opinions are some features of some of the political parties in Nigeria today. They are also used as vehicles of transporting leaders from one election to another with very little activity between the […]

The lack of internal democracy, mobilising political support along tribal and regional lines, and using violence to intimidate rivals or force certain opinions are some features of some of the political parties in Nigeria today. They are also used as vehicles of transporting leaders from one election to another with very little activity between the elections.

From 1999 on, the parties began to articulate the communal and personal interests of their respective leaders. Personal interests were conflated with communal or ethnic interests. How parties mobilised political support along ethnic lines widened social and political schisms. The parties have also failed to promote a culture of internal democracy, accountability, and good governance. Although they are required to foster internal democracy through free and fair elections, the last eighteen years have witnessed increased internal conflicts within the parties. Where parties have attempted to conduct internal elections, the results have largely lacked credibility.

This period has also witnessed conflict between the interests of party leaders and the interests and aspirations of voters. Party supporters clearly prefer to have the local leaders they can trust to articulate their interests. But the founder-members or the national leadership of the party prefer individuals who are loyal to them.

All these are happening because the mechanisms by which voters can hold their party leaders accountable are not in place. The various political parties are owned by the party leaders; party members have no voice in the running of affairs. The alliances also represent the individual interests of the founder-members of the parties.

Importantly, political parties in Nigeria, have no data base verifiable to the general public. None of the national secretariats of the major political parties in Nigeria has an idea of its membership strength. This makes it easy for party leaders to change the register at anytime to favour a preferred aspirant during political parties’ primary elections.

The Independent Electoral National Electoral Commission (INEC) has also shown little or no interest in addressing the problems in the political parties. Lastly, it should be known that once the masses loose interest in democracy, doom and anarchy await our country. The least we can do is to save our democracy now. Rebellion will continue to build up if we constantly oppress the wishes of the majority. 

Comrade Ahmed Omeiza Lukman is the former chairman, Nigeria Community in Ukraine.