The Motley Crowd
By
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
There are many candidates but only a few are strong and politically relevant
By Chris Ajaero
They are many but only a few of them are strong and politically relevant. Today, there are 50 registered political parties jostling for space in the Nigerian political landscape, the highest in the nation's democratic experience since independence
Of the 50 political parties, three stand out as leading contenders because they have matched their seriousness about winning the elections with persistent campaigns and rallies. They are the People's Democratic Party, PDP, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and Action Congress, AC. Nine other parties following at a long distance are the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Labour Party, LP, Alliance for Democracy, AD, Peoples Progressive Alliance, PPA, Democratic Peoples Alliance, DPA, Accord, Fresh Democratic Party, FDP, and the National Democratic Party, NDP. Trailing behind are the rest of the miniature parties that would hardly make any impact in the general elections since they do not have the requisite political structures on ground in virtually all the 36 states of the federation. Among these "unserious" parties are the Action Alliance, AA, Justice Party, JP, All Peoples Liberation Party, APLP, Citizens Popular Party, CPP, Masses Movement of Nigeria, MMN, National Conscience Party, NCP, and the Republican Party of Nigeria, RPN.
It is remarkable that since the return of civil rule in Nigeria in 1999, the number of political parties registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had increased rapidly from three which contested the election then, to 30 registered before the 2003 general elections by Abel Guobadia, then INEC boss. Maurice Iwu, the current INEC chairman raised the number to 50 last year.
However, a chorological evolution of political parties in Nigeria will clearly show the metamorphosis they had gone through since 1960 when Nigeria gained its independence. At independence, Nigeria had three major political parties, namely the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, the National Council for Nigerian Citizens, NCNC, and the Action Group, AG. At that time, Nigeria was described as a tripod with the three political parties representing the interests of the three major ethnic groups. While the NPC led by Ahmadu Bello was seen as Northern or Hausa party, the NCNC led by Nnamdi Azikiwe was termed an Igbo party. The AG-led Obafemi Awolowo also drew its support essentially from Yorubaland. But it was clear that the prominent politicians in the First Republic merely exacerbated ethnocentrism to achieve their parochial political interest.
It should, however, be noted that the post-independence government headed by Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was a coalition of the NPC - NCNC, with the AG as the opposition party. Under the coalition, Azikiwe was the governor-general and on October 1, 1963, when Nigeria became a republic, he was sworn in as its first president.
A split in the AG after the party decided to relieve Samuel Akintola of the premiership of the Western Region led to the formation of the Nigerian National Democratic Party, NNDP, by Akintola in January 1963.
The controversy over the 1963 census figures, which was rejected by Eastern and Mid-West Regions speeded the formation of new political alliances in preparation for the federal elections of December 1964. The NPC which had been in coalition with NCNC at the federal level, teamed up with the NNDP to form the Nigerian National Alliance, NNA, under the leadership of Ahmadu Bello, Sarduana of Sokoto. This marked the end of the NPC-NCNC alliance as the NCNC teamed up with the AG to form the United Progressive Grand Alliance, UPGA, under the leadership of Michael Okpara. UPGA boycotted the 1964 general elections after the Electoral Commission rejected its appeal for postponement. In the event, the NNA won decisively, but there was no polling in the East and the turn out of voters in Lagos and Mid-West was poor. Although NNA and UPGA later reached a compromise leading to the formation of a broad based national government, the violence that characterised the House of Assembly election in the western region rigged by the NNDC marked the beginning of political crisis in Nigeria. It was, therefore, not surprising that the military struck on January 15, 1966. But before the military struck and dismantled all the political structures, there were other miniature parties in existence. They included, the Northern Elements Progressive Union, NEPU, led by Aminu Kano, the United Middle Belt Congress, UMBC, led by Joseph Tarka, and the Niger Delta Congress, NDC, spearheaded by Harold Dappa Biriye. Virtually all the parties in the First Republic were sectional.
During the Second Republic, which spanned 1979 to 1983, there were six registered political parties. They are, the National Party of Nigeria, NPN, Nigerian Peoples Party, NPP, Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, Peoples Redemption Party, PRP, Great Nigeria Peoples Party, GNPP and the Nigeria Advanced Party, NAP. Again, some of these parties had ethnic linkages. Although the NPN was national in outlook, it was dominant in the North and had Shehu Shagari, a Northerner as presidential candidate. Many political analysts described it as a reincarnation of the NPC. The NPP, which had its base in the Igbo speaking areas of Nigeria, was equally considered to be an offshoot of the NCNC as it had Azikiwe as its presidential candidate. The UPN, which had Awolowo as its presidential candidate, emerged from the ashes of the AG and it drew support essentially from Yoruba speaking areas. GNPP formed by Waziri Ibrahim when he pulled out of the NPP had its base in the North. The GNPP anchored its campaign on a rather impressionistic slogan of "politics without bitterness." The PRP, another Northern party which had Aminu Kano as its leader was an offshoot of NEPU. NAP which was registered shortly before the 1983 general elections allegedly with the backing of the NPN federal government was seen as a move to whittle down the influence of the UPN in the West. Tunji Braithwaite, a lawyer from the South western Nigeria, formed NAP and its manifesto is loaded with socialist jargons. Although NA|P has survived as a political party till date, it has remained a toddler in the Nigerian political firmament.
As was the case in the First Republic, political alliance also played a major role in improving the fortunes of parties and strengthening the central government during the Second Republic. For instance, at the inception of the administration of Shehu Shagari, as president in 1979, his party, the NPN entered into a working accord with the NPP to enable it have a majority in the 544 member National Assembly. However, inter-party bitterness eventually led to the collapse of the alliance.
When the accord-turned-discord collapsed, NPP - sponsored ministers were ordered to resign. Shagari claimed that the accord failed because the NPP leaders thought it was basically an arrangement for the sharing of the booty, but the NPP leaders said they pulled out of the accord because the NPN regarded their party as a subordinate partner without any veto power. Efforts by the "opposition" parties to improve their electoral chances led to the formation of the Progressive Parties Alliance, PPA, in1982 made up principally of the UPN and NPP. However, the PPA was unable to present a joint presidential candidate in the 1983 presidential election because it could not choose between Awolowo and Azikiwe, both of whom wanted to stand. The election was also alleged to have been massively rigged and the crisis that followed led to the fall of the Second Republic
In 1989, when the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida lifted the ban on party politics, about 13 political associations applied to be registered. But on October 7, 1989, Babangida said none of the political associations was found worthy of registration. Consequently, his administration decreed the formation of two political parties: the National Republican Convention, NRC, and the Social Democratic Party, SDP. They were government funded and government equally provided offices for these parties. In addition, government appointed organising secretaries for them: Adamu Fika for SDP and Stephen Agodo for NRC. Later on, Tom Ikimi, an architect was elected chairman of the NRC while Baba Gana Kingibe, a former ambassador emerged as the chairman of the SDP. An attempt was made by IBB to foist ideologies on the two parties. While the NRC, which was "a little bit to the right," advocated state control of the economy more forcefully, the SDP, which was "a little bit to the left," simply spoke of the state playing a leading role. It is also noteworthy that the NRC's symbol was the eagle while the SDP had the horse as its symbol.
The decision of IBB to decree the two parties into existence was criticised. This is because the scenario in developed democracies has always been that the two party system will evolve by itself instead of by executive fiat or dictatorial manipulations. But Daniel Okwuchi Eke, a political scientist believes that the foisting of the two party system on Nigeria may be the best antidote to checking ethnic or tribal politics in the country.
To an extent, it worked because the both NRC and SDP had national spread. And M.K.O. Abiola, presumed to have won the June 12, 1993 presidential election emerged victorious because Nigerians voted for him not based on ethnic considerations but because they saw him as best suited for the highest office in the land. Unfortunately, the historic verdict was annulled by Babangida.
The late General Sani Abacha who took over from the Ernest Shonekan-led Interim National Government, ING, contraption also had his own experimentation in the formation of political parties. During his era, Abacha created five political parties: The United Nigeria Congress Party, UNCP, National Centre Party of Nigeria, NCPN, Congress for National Consensus, CNC, the Grassroot Democratic Movement, GDM, and Democratic Party of Nigeria, DPN. Abacha, however, died while the parties were still jostling for space in the Nigerian political landscape. These parties were therefore, disbanded by the Abusalami Abubakar administration on assumption of office in 1998.
From the foregoing, it is clear that the number of parties under past dispensations in Nigeria were far less than 50, which would contest, in the forthcoming general elections. Although it is a positive development because it means that the Nigerian political space has been opened, the snag is that a good number of these parties are too weak to make any impact in the election. The reality today is that even the two mega parties - the ANPP which has been emasculated by internal dissent and the AC which has been whittled down by last week's Appeal Court ruling against Vice-President Atiku Abubakar have no chance of undoing the ruling, PDP unless they pull their forces together.
Can the two parties revive their much-orchestrated alliance in order to give the PDP a good fight in the general elections? That is the big question.
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