5 - A Republic of Dashed Hopes? Party Politics and the Travails of Democracy in Nigeria's Fourth Republic

Summary

[I]t is important to understand how political parties are formed, the rules or procedure of their registration, their internal organization (whether they afford open political participation to their members through democratic processes), their social base and inclusiveness (whether they reflect the diversity of society) and the extent to which there is a level playing field for all parties in terms of access to electoral resources such as the media, funding and freedom to operate without intimidation. These issues determine how well parties are institutionalized and whether a genuine multi-party democracy exists in a country.

(ECA 2005: 38)

Our uncertainty about other aspects of the transition process can be diminished [when] we … pay much more attention to value change [and] move much more toward the intensive study of political parties … political parties may be used to perpetuate [any] rule. The critical political question is when this rule will lead toward democracy and when it will simply contribute to the maintenance of an authoritarian order.

(Bermeo 1990: 369–370)

The problem we have had in Nigeria is that every succeeding election is worse than the previous one … That does not show growth, and it does not show that our democracy is being deepened, talk less of thriving.

(Ken Nnamani, quoted in Sunday 2017)

Political parties of the Fourth Republic were bred to be agents of democratic erosion and collapse, rather than strong ramparts for the construction and consolidation of democracy … the road that led … here (to the Fourth Republic) was a long one, stretching back many decades, to the colonial era

(Agbaje 2010: 69–70)

It is bad for people to rig elections. But life in Nigeria is a rigged life. The electoral process, the political parties, the governance structure, the entire system, everything is decidedly rigged against the ordinary person. It is, in fact, almost absurd to talk of rigging here when that is what the entire system is all about

(Abdullahi 2003)

Rigging is almost synonymous with Nigerian elections.

(Kurfi 2005: 100)

As it literally was from the beginning (1998–1999), recent evidence June–July 2020 from intra-party and inter-party politics surrounding the governorship election in Edo State held little or no promise of a better life for Nigerians in the political terrain.