THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA (PARADOX WITH PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP))

CHAPTER ONE:

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Democratic governance with its ideal of elective representation, freedom of choice of leaders, rule of law, freedom of expression, accountability etc. has become the acceptable system of government all over the world. It is a form of government in which the supreme power of a political community rest on popular sovereignty. According to Oyovbaire (1987), democracy as a system of government seeks to realize a generally recognized common good through a collective initiation and discussion of policy concerning public affairs and which delegate authority to the agent to implement the broad decisions made by the people through majority vote. Thus, in contemporary times, democracy has been referred to as the expression of popular will of the political community through elected representatives. The contemporary democracy according to Raphael (1976), rest on representative government.

Democratic governance in Nigeria has been a different thing when compared to what is obtainable in other part of the world. The respect for human right and the rule of law which are the main features of democracy are not visible especially; election rigging and gangsterism is the order of the day that one can hardly differentiate between democratic government and autocracy.

In modern societies, political parties are very essential to political process. They have become veritable instrument or adjunct of democracy in any democratic system. Political parties are not only instrument for capturing political power, but they are also vehicles for the aggregation of interests and ultimate satisfaction of such interests through the control of government. Obviously political parties are crucial to the sustenance of democratic governance. As Agbaje (1999) notes that the extent to which political parties aggregate freely, articulate, represent and organize determines the level of accountability in public life including access to and use of power as well as political performance. 

Merkel (1977) summarized the basic functions of political parties as follows:

1. Recruitment and selection of leadership personnel for government offices

2. Generation of programmes and policies for government

3. Coordination and control of governmental organs

4. Social integration through satisfaction and reconciliation of group demands or the provision of common belief system or ideology

5. Social integration of individuals by mobilization of support and by socialization

Generally, political parties are very essential to democratic governance. It constitutes a central instrument of democratic governance. It provides the means of promoting accountability, collective action, popular participation, inclusiveness, legitimacy through the integration of their competing principles, ideologies and goals for eventual control of the government in the state. Political parties are the intermediate institution  mediating the affairs of both the people, personnel and agencies that exercise state power.

In Nigeria, the political parties usually are formed along ethnic, cultural, geo political and religious lines. In everyday activities of government, one notices the fostering of primordial loyalties such as ethnic sensitivity and overt projection of other selfish political tendencies as a result, the political class has always remained bereft of viable political ideology on which the nation’s political future could be anchored.

The bankruptcy in ideology and vision has reduced party politics to a bread and butter game where monetization of political process is the bedrock of loyalty and support. This has eroded the aim of the democratic system.

Since military disengaged from political power in may 1999, the PDP has dominated governance in Nigeria. For over seventeen years of the party in government which earned the respect and admiration of most Nigerian electorates at the polls due to its programmes and policies, the party is loathed in the country. The average Nigeria encounters frustration, disillusionment and psycho moral dislocation owing to the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government to deliver the expected dividends of democracy.

1.2    STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The emergence of democratic governance in Nigerian political system in 1999 was a land mark in the political development of Nigeria. After fifteen years of persistent dictatorship, the return of democracy was received with pump and pageantry by civil societies, labour union, civil rights organization etc. Hope was very high in the area of human right which was completely absent during the dictatorship rule.

It was expected that the dividend of democracy would be realized through the political parties which are the means through which the politician reach the public and make their promises and manifestoes available to the people.

This research therefore focuses on investigating the role of Nigerian political parties in democratic governance: the paradox with People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

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