DEMOCRACIES are sustainable only under conditions that allow competitive party systems to operate. There is a crisis in Nigeria’s democratic system and the source is our dysfunctional party system. For ruling parties, the crisis is deep, they stop operating as parties and become machines for ruling executives – president and state governors – to do what they please while abandoning manifestoes and policies.
Without strong opposition parties, multi-party democracy degenerates as the political process is not generating alternative platforms that are developing the capacity to effectively challenge parties in power.
For opposition parties, a significant percentage of their cadres move out to join the ruling party after every election. The remaining party leaders engage in a fight to the death, often helped or even instigated by the ruling party. The post-election period is therefore one of party disintegration.
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Nigeria must get out of this malaise if we are to defend and deepen our democracy.
There is no surprise that since the end of the 2023 general elections, a host of elected opposition figures have defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), with more, including governors expected to jump ship before the end of 2025, ahead of the 2027 polls.
The Labour Party, (LP), for example, which emerged as the Third Force after the election, has lost no fewer than 18 lawmakers to the APC. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), has also lost scores of elected officials including 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, some members of the House of Representatives and senators.
This is happening in spite of the fact that the Constitution is explicit that you cannot change your political party once you contest and win an election on the platform of a political party. Once you change your political party and your party takes you to court, the courts should immediately unseat you from the elected position. This rarely happens. The judiciary will usually find a way to circumvent the law. There is enough money in the system to create conditions to disregard the law and ensure the system does not function according to its rules and regulations.
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The main problem is that the political parties have no core principles, ideology or even a set of coherent political programmes they are committed to. In functional democracies, it is the commitment of politicians to their party’s political platform that makes them remain in the party after losing elections with the intention of running a better campaign in the next electoral cycle to secure victory.
As Nigerian parties are no longer associated with any political conviction, the political class can move from one to another without batting an eyelid. Such behaviour has consequences for democracy as it perpetuates a culture of cynicism among the electorate, who come to realise that their voices and choices are inconsequential in a system where principles are so readily discarded for power, money and privilege.
The reality however is that the ruling party itself is not developing by incorporating new ideas, values or approaches. It is simply absorbing the same type of people it has – corrupt persons without principles, character or values. The additional members simply worsen the bad character of the party and creates a sense of hopelessness in voters who come to the bitter conclusion that they are ALL very bad leaders that good people do not deserve to have governing them. The rot in the party system therefore simply widens and deepens.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Mr. Obiora Ifoh, has stated the obvious that: “Not everyone who is in politics is genuinely interested in using his/her position to better society, we must tell ourselves the truth. In the case of our party for example, there were those who joined us not because they believed in what our party stands for but because they saw an opportunity provided by the popularity of our platform and they used it to win elections only to get into office and jump into the same political party they defeated at the polls to get into office.”
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Such behaviour creates a dilemma for those who join a party because they believe it could make a difference only for them to discover subsequently that many of those they campaigned and voted for have no values or principles guiding their action.
The political effect of such behaviour is that opposition parties have no opportunity to grow and develop after succeeding in getting some of their candidates elected because they lose a lot of their successfully elected officials. The so-called opposition parties then become “unwilling feeder pillars” for the ruling party, providing them with a steady stream of experienced politicians and further consolidating their power.
Without strong opposition parties, multi-party democracy degenerates as the political process is not generating alternative platforms that are developing the capacity to effectively challenge parties in power.
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The reality however is that the ruling party itself is not developing by incorporating new ideas, values or approaches. It is simply absorbing the same type of people it has – corrupt persons without principles, character or values. The additional members simply worsen the bad character of the party and creates a sense of hopelessness in voters who come to the bitter conclusion that they are ALL very bad leaders that good people do not deserve to have governing them. The rot in the party system therefore simply widens and deepens.
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The issue is that Nigerian political parties are dysfunctional by design and not by accident. Party barons have succeeded in keeping decent and principled Nigerians outside the party system. Those left within are those who play the current game. At some point, decent Nigerians would have to revolt against the party system to take them over or replace them if democracy is to have the chance to survive.
There are clear indications that the race to win the presidency in 2027 has already taken off. The tactics of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appears to be to fragment all the other parties and consolidate power around his person. Opposition figures are defecting en masse, enticed by the lure of political relevance, financial incentives, and the promise of patronage.
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As the 2027 elections approach, the challenge for opposition parties is not just to survive but to redefine themselves as credible alternatives capable of inspiring confidence among a disenchanted electorate. The stakes are high. If the opposition fails to regroup and present a united front, Nigeria risks returning to a one-party dominant system, reminiscent of the early 2000s, where electoral competition exists only in name.
The President appears to have taken the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) hostage through the Wike stranglehold. The party’s NWC, responsible for convening NEC meetings, has been grappling with internal conflicts, particularly over the continued tenure of the acting National Chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagum. This is a frightening situation. It indicates that if enough money is placed on the table, no party can take a principled decision.
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The fact that Wike is a minister in the government should have meant it was easy to erase his influence in the “opposition” PDP. The fact that he still stands strong after demarketing, destabilising and disintegrating the party for four years is evidence of non-functionality of the party itself. Repeated calls by stakeholders such as Governor Bala Mohammed, to simply convene the National Executive Committee to meet to address the internal crisis facing the party have failed.
The issue is that Nigerian political parties are dysfunctional by design and not by accident. Party barons have succeeded in keeping decent and principled Nigerians outside the party system. Those left within are those who play the current game. At some point, decent Nigerians would have to revolt against the party system to take them over or replace them if democracy is to have the chance to survive.
Ibrahim is a professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development. He is also the Chair of the Editorial Board of Abuja-based online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES.
