- Lament absence of internal discipline in APC, PDP, LP, NNPP, others
- Wike manipulating PDP, Obi’s LP full of embarrassment – Experts
- The role of Tinubu in APC’s future standing
Major stakeholders across political parties in Nigeria have lamented the lack of real political parties in the country.
They identified greed for power and money as enablers of indiscipline and lack of principles and ideologies within party structures in the country.
They agreed that the worsening internal rancour within political strata is contributing immensely in drawing the nation backward and impoverishing the populace.
Presently, all the major political parties in the country in including the All Progressives Congress, People’s Democratic Party, Labour Party, New Nigeria Peoples Party, among others are under intense fire and none of them is immune to the complexities of Nigerian politics as they are caught in the web of political battle of survival.
Consequently, Nigerians are getting disinterested in the series of political dramas that play out season in season out.
They want to see strong and principled political parties that are more intent in governing than in winning elections.
Some stakeholders including leaders of political parties and good governance advocates harped on the need for various political parties to put their act together to enshrine party discipline, internal democracy and ensure those elected on their platforms follow through party manifestos.
“The involvement of money is causing an internal crisis and robbing us of discipline and cohesion. In those days, particularly in the Second Republic, you can see that the party was stronger than the candidates because there was no involvement of so much money then, the party was even sponsoring candidates during elections, but now, the reverse is the case, it is the candidate that now funds the party.”
In their separate interviews with The Point, they called on credible Nigerian youths to participate actively in politics by joining existing political parties.
According to them, the endemic lack of concern to politics by most Nigerian elites, scholars and youths has been robbing Nigerians at large of gains of democracy as those who only desire to occupy political offices without intent of governing have been left to populate parties.
A chieftain of the PDP, Olabode George, said “There is no group where we don’t have differences of opinion. It means the person can’t be trusted. Because we are a developing country, ideologies are yet to be part of what we are looking for.”
“On our own side (PDP), people manipulated the system to suit them, and we have seen the damage that caused us. The democratic Dispensation has a tripod; it stands on a three-legged body, and a three-legged body is a perpetually stable platform. If you remove one of the three legs, you will start to wobble. If you removed the second leg, you would either crash out or you would never be stable. So, the most sensible thing to do is to make sure that the three-legged body remains. And what are these three legs? Justice, fairness, and equity. If those issues are written in your constitution and you want to start manipulating them to suit you, you are trying to tamper with one of the three legs. It won’t be long before you see yourself on the ground,” he said.
On what is really wrong with our democracy, George said that “What is defective, which I can defend and fight for, is the constitution we are running now, which is completely military in nature, and it is bad for this system.”
A former governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Lagos State in the 2023 general elections, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, called on the Nigerian government to take strong action on its policies and promises to Nigerians, saying that what Nigerians need at this point is hope, and not “just another empty basket of promises from politicians.”
The Chairman of Labour Party in Osun State, Bello Adebayo, believed that all political parties in Nigeria are suffering from lack of party supremacy as individuals and party candidates appear to be greater than the platform.
Recounting how the emergence of Presidential candidate of LP, Peter Obi in the party brought about a crisis, Bello said those who followed the former governor of Anambra State to the party became greedy for leadership positions and wanted to displace those they met in the party.
He said the challenge that LP is facing is the same problem assailing other major political parties as individuals are now greater than the political parties.
According to him, “The problem of internal democracy is peculiar to all political parties in Nigeria. The problem is that everyone wants to be a leader, that is the problem and everywhere money is involved, this is what you will be seeing. For example, in Labour Party, before 2022/23 election, Labour Party was not well known in Nigeria, we must say the truth, but as God will have it, Obi (Peter Obi) decamped to our party, the internal crisis in our party started because those people that followed Obi to join our party want to be at the helms of affairs, they don’t want to mind that they met people in the party. So, that is the genesis of our crisis in the Labour Party, they want to push us aside.”
Bello hinted that political parties have been weakened by wealthy and popular candidates noting that the development has been encouraging candidates to deviate from party manifestos and principles without anyone raising eyebrows.
Expressing surprise on Obi’s remarks that the Obidient movement is larger than the party that gave him mandate to contest, the party chairman recalled, “There was a time when Obi said that the Obidient movement is larger than the political party, just imagine that statement. Everyone wants to be leader and it cannot be so. We are supposed to be patient and wait for our time. The crisis will continue once people insist on being in leadership positions and not waiting for their own time.”
“Also, the involvement of money is causing an internal crisis and robbing us of discipline and cohesion. In those days, particularly in the Second Republic, you can see that the party was stronger than the candidates because there was no involvement of so much money then, the party was even sponsoring candidates during elections, but now, the reverse is the case, it is the candidate that now funds the party. So, everyone wants to have his own cliques in the party. So, our problem in Nigerian politics is money and greed for leadership positions,” he maintained.
While encouraging young Nigerians and other well-meaning individuals to join politics for better transformation of the country, Bello said, “If the young people can drop their ‘I don’t care attitude’ and join politics, then, there will be hope but if they continue to leave it for people with penchant for power, then we will remain where we are. Let everyone join politics and contribute their quota. Nigerians’ lackadaisical attitude to politics and governance is dragging the nation backward. I urge everyone, especially youths, to get involved in politics.”
A good governance advocate, Festus Ojewumi, stressed the need for the Nigerian populace to be deliberate about politics and governance in the country, participate actively and aspire for offices starting from the grassroots.
He said the gerontocracy system of government where the older people populate political space has been causing havoc to Nigeria, and admonished young Nigerians to take interest in politics and governance.
Ojewumi, the Programme Manager, EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN), said, “The most important thing now is for people to be deliberate about politics and governance. You know that Nigeria does not have independent candidacy, you need to come under a political party. And in responding to that, one of the things that are most important is for like-minded people to actually come into politics.
“The politics Nigeria is currently playing is what I call gerontocracy and it is a kind of politics that is dominated by old people. You see many old people and only a few people are young. So, in responding to your question on how we can have political parties that will be centered on governance rather than winning elections, I will urge like-minded people and people of good reputation to come into politics. It is actually very key.
“Now, forming a political party may be difficult but for the existing political parties, it is high time youths that have integrity began to populate it because according to Nigerian Constitution, for any new political party to be formed now, you need to have offices in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory and this may be difficult, but take for instance now that like-minded people start coming on board and taking interest in politics, gradually, these people will be coming into offices. That is actually very important.
“Another thing is that there should be opportunities for mentorship. There should be a place for capacity building and mentorship for youths who are visionary, patriotic and integrity-personified. The old people in Nigeria are the ones who populate the political space and when they know they are exiting the stage gradually, they try as much as possible to bring their children, and the people who will continue with their ideology. That should actually be discouraged. That is why I said when people of integrity and good mind for Nigeria begin to be part of politics, then, that system of bringing your like minds will be discouraged. With this, the issue of godfatherism should be discouraged.”
He expressed displeasure over rising political discussions around 2027 elections when Nigerians are still battling with hardship, urging those aspiring for one political post or the other to suspend their ambition and think of how to make the current administration deliver on its electoral promises.
“I am actually surprised that there are political gladiators in the country who are presently talking about the 2027 presidential and general elections. 2027 is three years from now and they are talking about future elections and aspiring when they have not actually done half of their tenure. It has shown now that politicians and political parties are after winning elections and not after governance because what I know is that after election, the next thing should be governance but it has been about winning elections. Considering the kind of problem we have in Nigeria, we ought not to be talking about 2027 if we are in a sane country. We should be talking about how we can fix the problem that we are in already, how we can ensure that we have a better Nigeria,” he emphasised.
He harped on youth inclusion in politics, saying “Youths with credibility should participate in politics. Some youths want to start from the presidential election, it doesn’t work that way actually. They should start from grassroots, wards, councillorship, local government chairman, House of Representatives before we start talking about bigger positions.
“The truth of the matter is that citizens need to start to deliver themselves. We need to begin to re-write the story. The crops of politicians and political parties we have nowadays are only interested in winning elections and not affecting the lives of citizens positively. We need to be deliberate about this.”
“I can tell you categorically that political parties are not even following their party structures. There is an organization in Abuja that carries out assessment of political parties in Nigeria and I was part of the team. It was discovered that political parties are not following their ideologies. If political party presents candidate A, after the election, you will see candidate B going to court.
“To serve Nigeria or anybody ought not to be by force but now; it is by force because literally when people are saying they are tired of you, you see our politicians insisting on remaining in power. If political parties actually have internal discipline, I think there will be a change.
“In one of the occasions we have had discussions with INEC officials, they tell us that the political parties are their problem. With my own little experience and ideology, why the political parties take the largest blame, not that the election umpire and citizens don’t have their own lapses, but we have seen that political parties and their candidates can go to any length to win elections and if election is do or die, then we are not ready to make any headway in terms of the nation’s democracy and progress,” Ojewumi stated.
A political affairs commentator, Maxwell Igwe, told The Point that the centre could no longer hold in the various parties and that anyone expecting the parties to be “coordinated” would be left “heartbroken.”
Igwe also said a coalition would help to solve many of the fundamental problems most of the parties were experiencing.
“For the leading political parties in Nigeria, everyone knows that the centre cannot hold. Things have fallen apart in the parties. And if you are expecting them (political parties), especially the APC and PDP, to be coordinated, your heart will be broken.
“I mean, look at all the crises the parties are all dealing with – crises that have made our parties to be caught up in an avoidable battle for survival. Even the NNPP that is not a big party is not spared.
“Everywhere you look, it is internal division plus endless battles for supremacy. All these unfortunate bad blood in our parties make me wonder how we got here and how we can extricate ourselves from the mess created.
“So, it will not be a bad thing if some of these parties come together to form a coalition party. It will solve many of the fundamental problems in the parties.
“I even wonder what they are waiting for about forming a coalition. At least if you got elected under a coalition party, it would make you less likely to leave, as against if you were still in your original party,” he said.
“Everywhere you look; it is internal division plus endless battles for supremacy. All these unfortunate bad blood in our parties make me wonder how we got here and how we can extricate ourselves from the mess created.”
Igwe added, “PDP is trying to deal with Nyesom Wike and everything he stands for. LP and Obi have continued to entertain us with non-stop embarrassment. APC has its own silent civil war. And if not for the President, the party would have imploded. Tinubu is their saving grace.
“And then the ‘wahala’ in the NNPP , including LP, has made them the laughing stock of everyone. Two parties that have the potential to take over Nigeria in 2027 are under intense heat today.
“We know those who are causing these confusions in the parties. We know where they are based, but we will not mention their names now. The only thing we can say to them is that they must desist from unpatriotic activities.
“And I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but Nigerians will almost never get to see strong and principled political parties. They are in disarray.
“Winning elections means everything in this part of the world. And parties fail to realise that there can be dignity even in defeat. Unfortunately, too, a lot of Nigerians have aided the miserable actions of these parties.”
Igwe also reminded Nigerians about the role that money plays.
“I will not be doing justice to the matter if I don’t point out the role that money plays in all these. I mean, instead of Nigerians to follow ‘who know road,’ they prefer to follow ‘who get money.’ And it should not be so.
“So, to address the issues, I think that from now on, the respective parties must be governed and live through their philosophies. They should not hesitate to mete out appropriate punishments to members who are misbehaving and dragging their name in the mud.
“Those who also lead the parties must have common sense, even though that form of sense is not common,” he concluded.
