Tuesday, 2 December 2014

GROWING NIGERIA'S DEMOCRACY THROUGH VIABLE POLITICAL PARTIES By Hassan A. Saliu PhD And Abdulrasheed A. Muhammad Department of Political Science University of Ilorin PMB 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria


GROWING NIGERIA'S DEMOCRACY THROUGH VIABLE POLITICAL PARTIES

Introduction
There is no denying the fact that the contemporary world is characterized by a sweeping democratic ferment. This has occurred in different phases and across continents (see, Hyden, 1995; Hadenius, 1997; Isaac 1998). Apparently, democratic changes in other parts of the world such as Europe and America coupled with internal problems of governance inspired many African countries in the direction of democratization as witnessed, for instance, in Benin in the late 1980s and Nigeria in the 1990s. Although there is a tendency to attribute the democratic ferment sweeping across Africa to external pressures or developments within the international system, the determination and resilience of Africans for democratic rule cannot be wished away (Saliu 2004:4). In other words, Africa’s increasing democratization profile is a product of external factors much as it is a product of internal factors. This increasing profile is amply demonstrated in Nigeria’s current democratic experience, which, began in May 1999. But while the democratization wave was blowing over the country, it was caught up in what has been described as the victory and crises of democracy in Nigeria (Muhammad, 2006) – a trend that is attributable to fragility of some democratic institutions. Democracy is no doubt, a continuous process. It therefore follows that as the process deepens, there must be concomitant growth in the institutions responsible for sustainable democracy. Obviously, one set of institutions for democratic growth are the political parties without which the majoritarian model of democracy would be practically impossible. In Nigeria and Africa generally, before the coming of Europeans, the whole idea of political party was an alien phenomenon. However, nationalist pressures during colonial era quickened the pace of constitutional development, which in turn stimulated the development of political parties (Sklar quoted in Adele 2001:42). Thus, political parties in Nigeria have become, as elsewhere, an established institution of democratic politics.
In discussing the nature of political parties in Nigeria, Ujo (2000:18-42) attempted a classification. The first generation of parties according to him consisted of the pre 1945 parties. These included the Nigerian national Democratic Party (NNDP) and some other political associations such as the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM). According to him, many of them were more of glorified interest groups since their concerns were to influence specific policies of the colonial government. The second generation consists of those that emerged between 1945 and end of the First Republic. These were the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), Action Group (AG), National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) and Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). They were classified as nationalist parties by Ujo because their intent was to wrestle power from the colonialist – a task that they eventually succeeded in accomplishing. They succeeded in this period because the colonial machinery was conceived to be the “out group” against the “in-group” (Nigerians) thus, a high degree of mobilization of the citizenry to end formal colonial rule was easy to achieve (Yaqub 2002:123-1240). Unfortunately, intra and inter party rivalries characterized these parties after independence leading to their degeneration into more or less ethnic pressure groups – a trend which eventually led to the collapse of the First Republic. The third generation of parties which Ujo (2000) identified were parties of the Second Republic, 1979-1983 and they included the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NPP), Peoples’ Redemtion Party (PRP), Great Nigeria Peoples’ Party (GNPP) and Nigeria Advance Party (NAP). What characterised parties of this epoch is that in spite of the government’s attempt to avoid their degeneration into regional parties as experienced in the First Republic, most of the parties turned out to be reincarnates of the First Republic parties. For instance, the NPN, UPN, NPP and PRP were adjudged to be similar both in leadership and orientation to the NPC, AG, NCNC and NEPU respectively. The fourth generation of parties was the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) of the aborted Third Republic. Unlike the earlier parties, the SDP and NRC appeared to live above troubled waters of ethnic chauvinism and religious bigotry to a large extent. This may be explained partly by the constitutional requirements set for party registration, which compelled moderation on the part of politicians and partly because of centrality of the state to their creation. Thus, the trend of support and outcome of the elections portrayed the parties as somewhat nationally based (Akinterinwa 1997). Also included in the fourth generation parties were the five parties registered during the regime of General Sani Abacha – Congress for National Consensus (CNPP), United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), and the National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) - which from all indications were crafted to fulfill the personal ambition of a transmuting General and; political parties of the current democratic administration (Fourth  Republic).
Beyond the above classifications however, it must be stated that as in other democracies, political parties in Nigeria are a core institution of democratic politics. Indeed, the character and tendencies exhibited by these parties, as shown by past experiences, often have implications for democratic sustenance in the country. Against the background of the forgoing, this paper examines the challenge of deepening Nigeria’s democracy through viable political party institutions. What is the general character of political parties in Nigeria? What challenge(s) does the nature of political parties pose to democratic practice? To what extent can Nigerian political parties strengthen the democratic fabric? These issues constitute critical ingredients of concern in this work.

Political Parties and Democracy: Theoretical Insight
Political party is one of the genuses of intermediary groups in a political system. Others include interest groups and pressure groups. Thus, the relationship between viable political party and democratic governance is no doubt axiomatic. Political parties are the lubricant of democracy and without which, democracy based on the western model cannot function (Adele 2001:35). This is essentially because it provides a credible means of harnessing the variety of public opinions essential in sustaining a democratic society. While democracy rests on the informed and active participation of the people, political party is a viable tool in this regard. This perspective is shared by political scientists. As Anifowoshe (2004:59) remarked:
Democracy exists where the principal leaders of a political system are selected by competitive elections in which the bulk of the population have the opportunity to participate. As a matter of fact, the condition of the parties, in a political system, is the best possible evidence of the nature of any democratic regime.

Implicit in the above statement is that a party’s level of institutionalization, cohesion and social base, determines the extent of its viability and the extent to which it could be said to be performing its functions in a democracy. In other words, viable political parties contribute to democratic growth much as unviable ones may result in democratic regression. Although there are myriad of definitions on what constitutes a political party, yet they all revolve around electioneering and the control of government. For instance, political parties has been conceived as an instrument for contesting elections for the purpose of selecting candidates and party(ies) to exercise political power (Yaqub 2002:122). This definition is in consonance with that which sees political party as an organization, which is principally, absolutely and actively involved, in the electoral process, in a democracy, with the major intent of winning political power and controlling the government (Onuoha 2003:137). The import of these definitions is that the major goal of political party is to capture and control governmental powers. This it does through participation in electoral process in which it fields candidates to contest for various posts. Yet, it must be stated that while the major goal of a political party is to capture and maintain control over personnel and policies of government, such at times may have to be done in coalition with other party(ies). This is especially the case where electoral victory is not based on ‘first past the post’ system or where a single party could not win the minimum electoral seats necessary for it to constitute a government.
However, beyond fielding candidates for elections and controlling governmental apparatuses, political parties also perform other functions which on the one hand set them aside from other organizations such as interest groups and more importantly on the other hand, makes them sine qua non for democratic development. These include; the task of political recruitment and training, education, socialization, breeding consensus, providing alternative world views and political communication among others (see Okoosi-simbine 2004:85-86; Yaqub 2002:112; Aina 2002:10-12, Onuoha 2003:137). It is the extent to which parties are able to discharge these functions that determine the extent of democratic growth in the country. Important in carrying out the above functions is that parties especially in culturally variegated societies such as Nigeria must eschew those intervening variables that are likely to mar programmes and policies of the party such as salience of ethnic, religious or other sectional interests. Where this is not avoided, the tendency is that a party will find it considerably difficult in harnessing or mobilizing mass support for democratic growth. The emphasis here is that parties are formed not only to promote policies but also to secure social interests. It therefore follows that parties must have broad social bases in order to be able to aggregate interests rather than articulation of specific sectional ones.
Also central to democratic growth through the party system is party institutionalization. That is, the process by which parties become established and acquires value and enduring stability (Huttington, 1965:394). Although the extent of party institutionalization varies with party systems the world over, it is usually measured based on some factors such as party age, count of splits and mergers, electoral stability, legislative stability and leadership change (Janda, 1993:167). Of equal importance is party coherence, which has been defined as the degree of congruence in the attitudes and behaviour of party members’ (Janda 1980:118; 1993:173). There is no gainsaying the fact that the degree of coherence among party members bears direct relevance to party strength and stability. This is because a strong and coherent party in terms of membership and structure is usually stronger and coordinated both in articulating view and garnering electoral support than are fragmented one. It is also the factor of coherence that enable parties to effectively discharge the function of National integration which they are expected to perform especially in plural societies.
It must be stressed that, while parties in the advanced countries of Europe and America, are observed to have attained the status described above, those in the developing countries tend to be a little far from it. In other words, political parties in the developing countries cannot be ranked on equal scale with those of the advanced countries in terms of viability of the institution. Hence, it could be reasoned that the difference between the two worlds accounts for the different levels of democratic growth between them (e.g. Nigeria and USA). Although Nigeria has returned to democratic practice since 1999, yet there is a growing concern over the sustenance of its democracy. These concerns obviously owe their origin to the nature of political parties and party politics or activities in the country. Issues surrounding this dilemma are examined next but before this, description of the character and general tendencies of current political parties is essential.



Behaviour and Character of Nigerian Political Parties
Essentially, behaviour of political parties in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic is not too fundamentally different from that of earlier Republics. Indeed, the character and pattern of behaviour they exhibit owes much to their circumstance of origin and operating environment. Prior to independence, political parties in Nigeria emerged within the context of nationalist struggles for independence. The common desire to put an end to colonial rule and achieve self government therefore reduced the preponderant tendency of any segmental cleavage (Yaqub, 2002: 22). The certainty and approach of independence however brought about a total change in the operating context of the parties. Since new set of leaders are to emerge from among Nigerians, party activities assumed a new dimension which till date has continued to characterize Nigerian Political parties. Two matrices are implicit in this view. First is that, there is an intense and ferocious struggle for power among the political parties. This may be attributed to centrality of political power in the country access to which determines access to other resources. Consequently, competition becomes so intense that the ruling party will always want to maintain its hold on power just as the other parties in opposition are ready to wrestle power from the ruling party irrespective of what it takes. Perhaps this trend equally, usually inform the pattern of alignment and re alignment that takes place between parties in the process of electoral competition such as between the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All Peoples’ Party (APP) in the 1999 presidential election and AD-PDP accord in the south west during the 2003 general elections. In the same vein, the intense inter party rivalry also to a large extent accounts for party’s mobilization of forces of identity such as ethnicity, religion and other cleavage issues in order to gain electoral advantage and, other electoral fraud among others.
            With regard to the second matrix, there is within each party an intense struggle for relevance, regional hegemony and exertion of overbearing influence on party structures and machineries among party members. This tendency has been the bane of party politics since Nigeria’s independence in 1960 (See, Okoosi-Simbine, 2005; Tyoden, 2002: 12 - 14; Osaghae, 1998: 120 - 121). Interestingly, the present Fourth Republic is not an exemption as several occurrences points in this direction. For instance, the tactical refusal to register some known members of the PDP including vice president Atiku Abubakar, at various wards during the party’s recently concluded membership re registration exercise and, the decision of some stalwarts of the PDP (including the former chairman, Audu Ogbe) to float new political associations, Movement for the Defence of Democracy (MDD) and Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), with the intention of registering them as political parties. Others include, personality clash between Jerry Useni and Don Etiebet within the All Nigerian Peoples’ Party (ANPP) and Bisi Akande versus Mojisola Akinfenwa in the AD (see, The Punch, August 12, 2003: 39; The Sun, September 12, 2003; Thisday, January 14, 2006:6; Sunday Independent, January 1, 2006: A4 and Abatan 2006: B14).
            What must be noted at this point is that, while the need to capture power by all means and personal idiosyncrasies of party stalwarts underlie parties’ behaviour in Nigeria, the situation has nonetheless been compounded by a self-serving and pathological perception of politics and democratic practice by the politicians. In this case, politics is seen as a means of amassing wealth and power for personal advantage. Under such a scenario, ‘playing by the rules becomes an uncomfortable restraint’ (Maduekwe, 2005) as the average politician responds only to his social, political and economic impulses. Invariably therefore, political parties in Nigeria and of course party activities are characterized by behavioural tendencies manifesting in inter and intra party antagonisms, indiscipline and flagrant violation of party rules; factionalism and lack of internal cohesion’ ideological emptiness of parties and a dwindling hope of party institutionalization among others. All these, indeed, constitutes critical issues and problems for sustainable democracy.

Political Parties and Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria: Issues and Problems
As noted earlier, political parties in Nigeria are a product of specific environments, which often influence their structures, functions, and operations. Nonetheless, they are expected, as elsewhere, to serve as lubricating agent for sustainable democratic rule. Presently, however, there is, as Anifowoshe (2004:57) noted, a growing public apprehension concerning the future of the sustainability of Nigeria’s nascent democracy. Anifowoshe noted further that the growing apprehension is predicated on the nature and intensity of party competition, which had invariably engendered tremendous bickering, political uncertainties and disorder in many parts of the country. The point here is that party politics in Nigeria has not undergone any genuine transformation that is capable of strengthening the democratic project.
Democracy is all about competition, bargaining and compromise. In a liberal context, these are expected to be facilitated by the institution of political party. However, it could be gleaned from the Nigerian situation that political parties are usually more into ‘cat and mouse’ game. This is because, both at the level of inter and intra party relations, the rules of the game are often never allowed to play itself out. In the present democratic experience for instance, while the ruling party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has remained weary and critical of any move or opinion expressed by other parties, so also are the non-governing parties reigning invectives on the PDP government at every available opportunity (Muhammad, 2006: 208). Even at state level, inter party relations have been more confrontational among party faithful leading, at times, to violent conflicts and wanton destruction of lives and properties as witnessed in states such as Anambra, Kwara, Edo, Ekiti, Rivers and Bornu (Human Rights Watch 2003; Sambo 2005). The confusion and contradiction of party activities in Nigeria also plays itself out in the spate and dimensions of intra party squabbles. For instance, among the leading parties (PDP, ANPP and AD) there has been dissolution of party executives, suspension of party stalwarts for anti-party activities, emergence of parallel executives and deflection of party members among other manifestations of intra-party crisis. One of the worst manifestations of such under the present administration is best exemplified in the Anambra State saga where factions resorted to the use of various means and strategies in their contestations for control of power in the state. The crises which began to manifest since July 2003 saw a wanton display of anti-democratic tendencies including adoption of the state governor, destruction of lives and properties and even, using instrumentality of the police (Muhammad, 2006:207). In underscoring the profound confusion that characterized Nigeria’s political terrain, Anifowoshe (2004:57) noted that:
From inception of the restoration of civil rule in the Fourth Republic, the political scene has witnessed frequent discords, unresolved political issues, recriminations, threats of impeachment of executives, treacheries, flagrant breach of party rules, carpet-crossings, inter-communal rivalries and resurgence of factional cleavages within parties, which have continued to threaten the functioning of democracy in Nigeria.

In other words, courtesy of activities of the political parties, Nigeria’s current democratic experience is not only characterized by uncertainties but as well, trapped between democratic growth and regression. All these have continued to dim the hope of sustainable democracy in Nigeria. But it must be stated that current experiences with political parties in Nigeria are not only peculiar to the Fourth Republic as it represents more of a carryover from the past republics. This is because both the First and Second Republics in particular were also characterized by series of anti-democratic activities such as inter and intra party squabbles, political bigotry, party indiscipline, cross-carpeting among others – a trend which ultimately led to the collapse of the earlier republics.
From what has been discussed, it has been revealed that essentially, parties in Nigeria have not had the opportunity of been institutionalized and that may partly account for the current travails of party politics in Nigeria. Prolonged years of military rule and constant manipulation of the political process contributed immensely to this development. For instance, political parties in the First Republic had their life terminated following the coup of January 1966 while those of the Second Republic existed for only about five years (1979-1983). The Third Republic was more of parties dying at birth as none of them had a life span that extended beyond two years. Although some parties of the present era may have transcended first phase of the democratic era, 1999 - 2003, yet they are equally faced with the challenge of institutionalization. As noted earlier in this work, party institutionalization could be measured by factors such as party age, extent of fractionalization, legislative stability and leadership change. However, the extent of polarization, leadership crises, deflections and political vagrancy that characterized the present crop of parties especially the leading PDP, ANPP and AD tempts one to conclude that: They are far from institutionalization. Added to this is the rate of dissent by party stalwarts who in their struggle for ascendancy and relevance are now floating new political associations with the intent of transforming into political parties. Emergence of the MDD and MRD championed mostly by dissatisfied members of the PDP are a case in point in this regard (see The Punch, December 23, 2005:6; Saturday Independent, December 10 2005: A3; Daily Trust November 21, 2005:2). The import of this situation is that political parties in Nigeria may eventually remain a ‘child of circumstance’ born strictly in response to the political interests of its big wigs rather than advancement of democratic ethos.
Yet another factor working at variance with democratic growth in Nigeria could be located in the weak party structures and lack of internal cohesion. Weak structures of the current political parties no doubt inhibit the system from running itself. This is because, it strips the parties of their autonomy defined in terms of ‘a party’s structural independence from other institutions and organizations’ (Janda, 1980:91). Consequently, the control of party machinery and structures is determined largely by the interest of a domineering caucus at any point in time rather than established rules. Equally, there is no denying the fact that Nigerian political parties are not internally cohesive. On the one hand, this may be explained by the fact that these parties are composed of strange bedfellows. Thus, interests of the amalgamating parties usually influence trend of relations. In a situation of divergence of interests therefore, conflict becomes an inevitable occurrence. On the other hand, one may look at the short gestation period of the parties as another factor that affects party cohesion. The point is that between 1998 and 1999 when these parties emerge, there was little or no time for the politicians to stay together and harmonize their differences, ideas and thoughts before going for elections. As former President Sheu Shagari had observed, the parties were created in matter of weeks and prepared for election in matter of days (quoted in Tyoden, 2002). This factor partly explains the series of intra-party rivalries and carpet-crossing that later characterized party activities.
But a more fundamental problem, which inhibits party cohesion, institutionalization and of course, deepening of democracy, lies in the ideological emptiness of the parties. A front line politician, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, underscored this fact by noting that:
From the beginning, we had wanted ideological parties. That opportunity was ruined. We now go for winning, winning only. No more ideology. We are playing survival game. Our preference for the use of ideology to unite Nigerians and present them with clear democratic choice did not work (Quoted in Aina 2002:7).

The above statement no doubt gives credence to the view that Nigerian political parties lack a definite ideological base that could propell a democratic society. According to Okoosi-Simbine (2005:24), parties and their manifestoes need to espouse the ideology on which they plan to run the government in order to give the electorate a clear picture of where the country is heading to and to decide whether or not to work in that direction. However, parties in Nigeria have never espoused any definite ideology or put up manifestoes that present the citizens with a choice of direction. Underscoring this ascertion, Okoosi-Simbine (2005:22) noted that:
An overview of the manifestoes of political parties in Nigeria shows that their objectives and strategies are not radically different from one another in their planks and are all virtually addressed to the same issues. For instance, the APP and AD manifestoes are almost a carbon copy of each other with the only difference discernible in them being the emphasis that they give to the programmes articulated, or in a few cases, the strategies for carrying out the objectives.

In this context, it is not likely that any party will be able to proffer an alternative worldview for the electorate, which is essential in the deepening of democratic practice. More importantly, due to lack of a clear-cut ideology, many politicians behave like political bats changing party affiliation in response to the political fortune of their group (Aina 2002:19).
In sum, Nigeria’s current democratic experience is caught up in the dilemma of democratic renewal and regression. This flows from the series of occurrences which revolves around viability of the current political parties. While it is true that political parties are like piston in the engine of democratic practice, the extent to which they acquire value and stability, party cohesiveness and development of a coherent political doctrine are vital ingredients that make them viable element in democratic growth and sustenance.

Recommendations and Conclusion
This paper has discussed the interplay between political parties and the sustenance of democracy. Findings reveal that vibrant political parties lie at the heart of democratic growth. In other words, the more viable the political parties are, the more democracy is strengthened. In Nigeria however, there are ominous challenges, which confront Nigerian political parties vis-à-vis democratic strengthening. Findings reveal that political parties in Nigeria are yet constrained in discharging those responsibilities which, place parties at the heart of democratic sustenance. As revealed in the text, this reason is not far fetched from the peculiar nature of politics and politicians in the country. Against this background, this paper recommends that there is need for politicians to exercise restraint in the way politics is played and allow party structures to develop according to the established rules. This would help achieve internal cohesion and ensure party discipline. Equally, genuine political will to restructure the political terrain is necessary on the part of policy makers while actors must be willing and ready to make sacrifices and compromise in the course of politicking. Where these are achieved, it is expected that political parties in Nigeria will then be properly positioned to champion the course of democratic growth.

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