Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

The development of political parties in Nigeria dates back to the days of the

struggle for political independent in the late 1940s when the nationalists

were at the pre-independence and post-independence periods. In the pre-

independence and the early post independence periods political parties in

Nigeria were not ideologically based. Rather they were regionally based

and woven around individual politicians who they saw as their mentors. In

the last ten years however parties were registered based on the exigencies

of the time. This was the scenario until 1998; the need arose for parties that

could usher Nigeria into a new era of democracy after over fifteen years of

military rule. Historically political parties in Nigeria have developed and

still play a vital role towards the realization of the democratic objectives.

Indeed the last fifty years have seen an evolution of various political

parties. From 1991-1993 Nigeria practiced a two-party system with the

government establishing the Social Democratic party (SDP) and National

Republican Convention (NRC). The military government later proscribed

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the parties after annulling a presidential election in 1993. But Nigeria

returned to democratic rule in 1999.

The restoration of democratic government in 1999 led to a new approach to

party politics in Nigeria. The procedure for registering political parties was

liberalized thereby opening up the political space for mass participation in

political activities in the country. Today there are more than fifty registered

political parties in Nigeria even though only few of them have not been

able to win any election. The few political parties that have dominated the

political space to the point that fears are being expressed that the country

was drifting towards a one-party state. Opposition parties are beginning to

cross to the ruling party both at the federal and states levels.

Nigeria like many other African countries has had its fair share of

democratic challenges but it has also recorded some achievement over the

years. There have already been calls across the country for some

adjustments and improvements on the way political parties are run and

managed in the years to come. Many have argued that Nigeria must

necessarily adopt the methods that will guarantee the rights of its citizens to

elect leaders of their choice as provided for in the country‟s constitution.

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As Nigeria consolidation its democratic framework and mechanisms the

multi-parties in Nigeria need to exemplify a new level of commitment to

the yearnings and aspirations of the people for more fundamental and

sustainable development.

The recently 2011 general election in Nigeria really had some sets backs

and it really brought the world attention towards our political system. It also

leads to them in asking some questions concerning our democratic system

[voice of Nigeria on Thursday April 18

th

2013].

1.2 Statement of the Problems

In a multi-party system political parties being the main tool of

political development in every existing and irrespective of their various

ideological bends different political orientations and victory potentials

they are still allowed to partake in political competition for the control of

machinery of government and also uniting of the people. In every modern

society political parties are viewed to be an agent of unity peace and

integration etc. in that society but despite the above conception multi-party

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system still holds some questions that deviate from the above. Therefore it

is to this end that we now ask the following questions.

1. Is there any relationship between multi-party system and political

development in Nigeria?

2. What are the political implications of multi-party system in

Nigeria?

3. Does multi- party system ensure democratic consolidation in

Nigeria?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The broad objectives or aims of this research work are simply to know the

meaning and contributions of multi-party system in Nigeria political

development. And these specific objectives are as follows:

1. To find out the relationship between multi-party system and

political development in Nigeria.

2. To access the political implication of multi-party system in

Nigeria.

3. To access whether the existence of multi-party system ensures

democratic consolidation in Nigeria.

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1.4 Significance of the Study

This research work will be significant in the following ways:

Firstly it will help decision making organs institutions to determine the

basis for political party formation in Nigeria in order to achieve National

integration and political development.

Secondly invaluably it will contribute to academic knowledge as

regards to function of political parties to political development.

Furthermore it will create awareness and inspire a sense of

responsibility on members of political party on the role expected of them to

achieve good governance and political development.

1.5 Literature Review

It will be a very difficult task to complete this research work and

arrive at a justifiable conclusion without reviewing works of other scholars

in this field of study. Since such a review will provide an insight into various

aspects of the problems and similarly provide adequate theoretical

background. It is through such reviews that it would help us to critics‟

previous study and the way in which the present day will help in providing

solution to the problems. Multi-party system has been conceptualized in

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many ways and views. Clearly speaking it is one of the political systems

found in democratic or federal states of the world. Many scholars had made

various efforts to explain the meaning of multi-party system and how it

relates to political development.

According to Obikeze (2004) Multi-party system is “a scourge to the

political growth of any nation”. To him multi-party is a reflection of the

division that exists within the society and the extent of diversity. This means

that once the nation allows a multiple party system to be in operation that it

extends diversity and within the society the citizens will bring ethnicity in

politics. He went further to state that the voters have the confusion of which

party to join and who to vote for because choice is problematic as there is

slim ideological difference among the parties. In this case we found out that

the above problem cause political apathy. Yes! It made groups within the

society to be apathetic in the sense that an average political Nigerian man

will not interested in the political activities if this choice is not the

government. The same scholar ended his argument and analysis with this

assertion multi-party system does not create an avenue for long term

planning as a party policy of the co-operating parties must be considered.

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According to Rodee et al (1957) it was stated that “the reason of

multiple parties is the persistence of deep cleavages in a political society

caused by difference in nationality and religion divisive forces are often

inflamed by irreconcilable element within the nation or by external

revolution any moments”. This means that in most of the democratic states

like Nigeria it is because of the diversity and differences in ideology that

engendered the feeling of ethnic politics.

La Palombara and Wemer (1966) claim that “the traditional

classification between two party system and multi-partism is not sufficiently

meaningful” they maintained that the4 number of political parties in a

political system is not essentially relevant but competitiveness of parties is

very important. This is essentially true about multi-parties in Nigeria. In the

fourth republic one-party a People‟s Democratic Party (PDP) dominated

the political seats in the country. Therefore looking at the result the

People‟s Democratic Party (PDP) won majority of the seats. The above

authors viewed a multi-party system as one in which over an extended

period the same political or coalition of such parties dominate or hold

governmental power.

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According to Larry Diamond (2009) in an interview by Zainth

Economic Quarterly Magazine this excerpt reads thus calling a political

system a democratic does not mean it is good or admirable system or that we

need not to worry much about imposing it further. It also simply means that

if a majority of the people want change in leaders and policies and are able

to organize effectively within the rules they can change. This is just an

appraisal of the political system that is practiced in Nigeria but we should

not dwell in this conception of majority participation and promoting political

decay instead of development. If people can organize political party as a

democratic state (within the rules). It can be granted but a strong one that

will hold water to foster political development and not a weak organization

that continued to divide and tearing the nation apart.

According to Okpata (2000) multi-party system is a group system that

exist where there are usually several parties with nearly equal strength.

Political interest and historical experience play dominant role in adoption of

this system. Multi party system in this understanding means that the

ideology strength interest history experience etc. All these matters a lot in

operation of multi-party system. The problem with this practice of multi-

party system in Nigeria is that most of political parties that exist in the fourth

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republic lack the above attributes mentioned. In fact most of the parties were

of non-ideological type and that is not of development in Nigerian politics.

Eme Awa (1993) opined that “the system could be multi-party only in

the sacrificial sense of it. In this case only one party (always the same ones)

wins elections thereby enlarging the famous doctrine of alternating parties

that could hold power. Consequently upon this a nation may be subject to

adherence. Multi-party system was also argued by Awa to often establish

parties on ethnic grounds.

According to Omo Omomji (2008) in his seminar presentation about

paries and politics in Nigeria he said “I am aware that parties should poses

certain characteristics and that they are meant to perform certain functions”.

The issue is that the political parties in Nigeria are still in search of a role

hence since 1999 the role of political parties is still fluid. In many cases this

so-called political parties since 1999 have become a major part of the

problem in Nigeria. The dispersal of partism support and organization in

multi-party may have several others negative implication. For instance

Ferguson and Mc Herny (1967:218) pointed out that:

The disadvantages of having many parties is

that the multi-party system produces

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instability confuses the electorate with a

multitude of alternatives represents local

groups and factions and in action. It would

make continued functioning of the electoral

system (and integration of diverse ethnic and

socio-economic group) virtually impossible.

Moreover there is the guanine fear that any multiplication of separates tribal

groups. As Weiner and La Palombara (1966) observed frequently in

heterogeneous societies operating a multi-party system the political parties

re-often asserted with the various fragmented cultures. In such a case the

parties have no intention of facilitation integration but aim instead at

reinforcing loyalties to the sub-cultures with which they are identified.

Satori (1996) points out that “multi-party system is the most insecure and

less viable option to political development”. He also points out that not only

that the multi-party system cannot profit the stimulation of a responsible

opposition but also that it is often paralyzed by cabinet instability and by

the presence of anti-system parties which replace competitive politics with

irresponsible outbidding under these condition according to Satori

(1996:175)

The multi-party system is more an agent of

disintegration than an instrument of

aggregation and integration and the outcome

is sheer immobility mal- integration or

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disorderly change than is an ideologically

motivated unrealistic sequence of abrupt

changes that are likely to be successful.

What could be derived in the above assertion is that a developing pluralistic

society in search of national integration (as an attribute of political changes

and instability nor can it afford increased polarization of a great number of

cleavages that already existed in the society. This was why multi-party

system had failed repeatedly in Nigeria as a mechanism for fostering

political stability and political development.

According to Daniel Learner (1950) he opined. “The passing of

traditional societies modernization of middle east” equates political

development with political modernization.

W.W Rostow (2008) also treated political development as typical

phenomenon of the industrial society. He was of the opinion that the

industrial societies are the patterns setters of political development for other

societies. Edward Shills (1991) opined that political development is a nation

state building.

According to Samuel .P. Verma (2009) stated that the greatest

drawback of these studies was that they treated “political development” as

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dependent variables generated by something else a worldwide wave of

modernization nationalism or democracy and not as an independent or

interviewing variable which in its own turn could shape things. Henceforth

political scientist sought to devise alternative meaning of political

development.

Gabriel Almond (1990) defined political development as “the increased

differentiation and specialization of political structures and the increased

secularization of political culture” effectiveness efficiency and capability

were seen a benchmark of political referred by Coleman (1956) as

“Development syndrome”.

1.6 Theoretical framework

The theoretical framework that will best suit this study will be group

theory. This theory was adopted because of the strong view of scholar such

as Bently (1908) who as of the strong opinion that the interactions of groups

are the basis of political life and rejected statist abstractions. In his opinion

group activity determined legislation administration and adjudication. He

also went further to opine that institution approach should not be used for

political analysis as these institutions are static as against politics which is

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dynamic and full of activities. He argued that politics is a group affair and

each group is competing against each other for power. He also added that

the pattern of process involving mass of activities and not a collection of

individuals. The group emerges from frequent interaction among its

individual members which is directed by their share interest. The interest

leads to the organization of the groups.

Bently‟s group theory received blessing of scholars like David Truman

Robert Daniel Grant Mc Connell Theodora .j. Lewi Earl Lathans among

others. They saw power as diffused among many interest groups competing

against each other. Earl Lathan described a society as a simple universe of

groups which combine break and form coalitions and castellation of power

in a restless alternation. The adoption of this theory as basis for the

examination of the multi-party system and political development in Nigeria

is simply as a result of the interplay of forces and struggle for power among

various ethnic groups in the Nigerian society which resulted that shortly

after independence political parties were formed along ethnic sectional time.

Therefore the adoption of the group theory is to examine how the

intrigues among the various ethnic groups and the resulting multi-party

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system affect generally political activities and in particular development of

Nigeria political system.

1.7 Hypotheses

In line with the research question posed for this study the following

hypotheses are hereby proposed.

1. There is no close relationship between multi-partism and political

development in Nigeria.

2. Multi-party system has negative and positive implications in Nigerian

political development.

3. Multi-party system does not ensure democratic consolidation in

Nigeria.

1.8 Methodology

The use of secondary source of data is the main method of data

collection adopted in this research work. This method is adopted due to its

intrinsic values. The secondary sources adopted in this study includes

materials like Newspapers magazines textbooks internet journals

government publications official documents etc. which helped us to gain an

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insight into the origins and development of political parties and nature of

their operational patterns in the country. Content analysis as a method of

investigation is adopted in this study. This involves reading meaning into

materials that are collected for the purpose of achieving reliable and

verifiable conclusion.

1.9 Scope of the study

The scope of this study is strictly centered on the examination of

the extent of development made by multi-party system in Nigeria political

sphere. It also focuses attention on party system the history of political party

in Nigeria and political party affiliations. The limitation of the work is quite

enormous since there is no availability of financial support to aid enough

material for this study and the short time given for the study also made it

difficult to accumulate enough information as possible for the study

1.10 Definition of Terms

i. Politics:

Politics is endemic in a man‟s social existence and that is why a

Greek philosopher Aristotle asserted that man is a political animal.

Politics was also defined by Prof Okwudiba Nnoli who opined that

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politics as the emergence of state power consolidation of a state

power and the use of a state power.

ii. Political party:

A political party is an organized group of individuals seeking to

seize the power of government in order to enjoy the benefits being

derived from such control. Furthermore a political party is a

regular and permanent organization of certain number of people

concerned with either conquering power or keeping it.

However a political party is any group however loosely organized

seeking to elect governmental office holders under a given label.

So in other words a political party can be defined as different

individuals or people who want to seize government power in

order to put their ideologies parties is the seize governmental

power.

ii. A party system:

A party system consists of all the parties in a particular nation

and the laws and customs that govern their behavior. It simply

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means the formation structure as well as the organization of

political parties.

ii Election:

An election is a process of voting and been voted for for the

qualified citizens of any country thus qualification may be

educational or based on experience in some cases.

An election is the procedure that allows members of an

organization or community to choose representatives who will hold

positions of authority within it.

iii. Political development:

Political development can be seen as a process involved in a

country‟s political change. It is an incident that causes a situation

to change or progress a state in which the developing of something

is not yet complete.

v Multi-party system:

Multi-party system simply means the presence of three or than

three parties in particular state. A country that has up to three or

more viable parties is said to be operating a multi-party system of

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government. However a country may have up to three or more

parties but will still not be qualified to be termed multi-party

system country it is because there must be viable strong

opposition parties which will lead to formation of coalition

government.

iv. Democracy: Democracy is a Greek word „demos‟ which means

“the people” and “kratein” means “to rule”. So it is a system of

government of the people by the people and for the people. Also it

a system of government whereby citizens of a country have full

rights and obligation to participate in governmental policies and

decision making.

v. Power:

This is the ability to make people (or things) to do what they

would not otherwise have done. In other words power is the

ability to make someone or others conform to your desire or it the

ability to act and secure conforming behavior.

vi. Electoral Commission:

This is the body which has the responsibility for the conduct of

election in the country in Nigeria for example the Independent

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National Electoral Commission (INEC) is typical example of

electoral body.

vii. Voting: The exhibition open or secret of one preference for a

person or a party or a cause-secret ballot therefore is regarded as

the necessary condition for the expression of free choice.

viii. Tyranny:

This is government by a tyrant. A tyranny behaves like a dictator

but in majority cases not in the interest of the people. Tyranny is a

bad form of dictatorship.

ix. General election:

This is a type of election where all the electorate in a country

participate at the same time on a given day to elect

representatives into the government.

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