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A Critique of Nigeria's Proposed Two-Party System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Anthony A. Akinola
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Extract

Shortly after assuming office as Head of State in August 1985, President Ibrahim Babangida inaugurated a 17-member Political Bureau, headed by Professor Sylvanus Cookey, whose terms of reference included ‘The review of Nigeria's political history, identifying the basic problems which led to failure in the past and suggesting ways of resolving and coping with these problems’.1 One of the most controversial of the Bureau's proposals was that the number of political parties should be limited to two in order to ensure that Nigeria's future politics would be based on principles and not ethnicity.2 The Government accepted this recommendation as part of the programme for a return to civilian rule in 1992, and has decided that two parties will be registered in 1989.3

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 1989 , pp. 109 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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References

Page 109 note 1 West Africa (London), 20 01 1986, p. 152.Google Scholar

Page 109 note 2 Federal Republic of Nigeria, Report of the Political Bureau (Lagos, 1987), p. 42.Google Scholar The idea of a ‘two-party system’ tallied with President Babandiga's thinking, having revealed earlier in an interview that he did not think more than three political parties should be allowed to compete. Cf. Oyovbaire, Sam Egite, ‘Can the Civilians Triumph?’, in African Concord (London), 12 02 1988, pp. 21–3. According to this member of the Political Bureau, the two-party system will ‘set the stage for the gradual clarification of our choice or locus in accordance with the two great historical systems’ of capitalism and socialism.Google Scholar

Page 109 note 3 See Federal Republic of Nigeria, Government's Views and Comments on the Findings and Recommendations of the Political Bureau (Lagos, 1987), p. 42,Google Scholar extracts of which were published in West Africa, 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 August 1987. For criticisms of the proposed political system, see Anthony A. Akinola, ‘Parties and Precedents’, in ibid. 27 July 1987, p. 1441, and also the comments made by Raufu Mustapha and Shehu Othman in ibid. 28 September 1987, p. 1904.

Page 109 note 4 The Government did not accept this condition in so far as it decided that there should be an almost blanket ban on the participation of past politicians, either for a temporary period or for life. Cf. Akinola, Anthony A., ‘Ban Could Create Dissident Group’, in African Concord, 15 October 1987, p. 7.Google Scholar

Page 110 note 1 Report of the Political Bureau, pp. 42–3.

Page 110 note 2 Oyovbaire, loc. cit. pp. 21–3.

Page 110 note 3 Plano, Jack C. and Greenberg, Milton, The American Political Dictionary (New York, 1979edn.), p. 150.Google Scholar

Page 110 note 4 Report of the Political Bureau, p. 42.

Page 111 note 1 Sorauf, Frank J., Party Politics in America (Boston, 1980 edn.), p. 38.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 2 Shattsneider, E. E., Party Government (New York, 1942),Google Scholar and Duverger, Maurice, Political Parties (New York, 1954).Google Scholar

Page 111 note 3 Woll, Peter and Binstock, Robert H., America's Political System (New York, 1979 edn.), pp. 163–4.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 4 Rossiter, Clinton, Parties and Politics in America (Ithaca and London, 1960), pp. 9–10.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 5 See Akinola, Anthony A., ‘Party Coalitions and the Trend Towards a Two-Party System in Nigeria’, M.A. thesis, Department of Political Science, Howard University, Washington, D.C., Apri; 1983.Google Scholar See also Adamolekun, Ladipo, The Fall of the Second Republic (Ibadan, 1985), for an analysis of party coalitions.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 6 Cf. Key, V. O., Politics, Parties and Pressure Groups (New York, 1964 edn.), pp. 229ff.Google Scholar

Page 111 note 7 Woll and Binstock, op. cit. pp. 164–5.

Page 112 note 1 Kousoulas, George, On Government and Politics (North Scituate, Mass., 1979 edn.), p. 157.Google Scholar

Page 112 note 2 Sorauf, op. cit. p. 39.

Page 112 note 3 Rossiter, op. cit. p. 11.

Page 112 note 4 Lipson, Leslie, ‘The Two-Party System in British Politics’, in American Political Science Review (Washington, D.C.), 1953, p. 39.Google Scholar

Page 112 note 5 ‘Eso Warns Against 2-Party System’, in National Concord (Lagos), 20 02 1988, p. 16.Google Scholar

Page 113 note 1 Ake, Claude, ‘Towards a Stable Third Republic’, in African Concord, 10 05 1988, pp. 39–40.Google Scholar

Page 113 note 2 Williams, David, ‘Regional Rivalries Remain’, in Financial Times (London), 24 02 1986, Nigerian supplement, p. 4.Google Scholar

Page 114 note 1 Schwarz, Frederick A. O. Jr, Nigeria. The Tribes, the Nation, or the Race-the Politics of Independence (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1965), p. 98.Google Scholar

Page 115 note 1 Williams, loc. cit. p. 4.

Page 115 note 2 ibid.

Page 116 note 1 ‘North Gets 50% Representation’, in Daily Times (Lagos), 18 09 1950.Google Scholar The disagreements expressed by Adeleke Adedoyin and Ibiyinka Olorun Nimbe explain why the Yoruba-dominated western region opposed this decision, the long-term implications of which were presented in an article by S. O. Shonibare, ‘What it Means to the Future of Nigeria’, in ibid. 26 September 1950.

Page 116 note 2 For more information about the nature of alliances since the pre-independence era, including the N.P.C./N.C.N.C./A.G. grand coalition of 1957–9, see Adamolekun, Ladipo, Politics and Administration in Nigeria (Ibadan, 1986),Google ScholarAkinola, , ‘Party Coalitions and the Trend Towards a Two-Party System in Nigeria’, and Dudley, B. J., An Introduction to Nigerian Government and Politics (London, 1982).Google Scholar

Page 117 note 1 Akinola, Anthony A., ‘The Politics of State Creation’, in African Concord, 15 10 1987, p. 8.Google Scholar

Page 117 note 2 ‘We Need Genuine Unity of Purpose’, in National Concord, 7 April 1988, p. 11.

Page 118 note 1 Ake, loc. cit. p. 39.

Page 118 note 2 Bashir Ikara, Director of Arewa House, Centre for Research and Historical Documentation, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, is quoted by Ali, Suwaid Isah, ‘On Federalism and Stability, in New Nigerian (Kaduna), 11 03 1988, p. 7.Google Scholar

Page 118 note 3 Schwarz, op. cit. p. 103.

Page 120 note 1 West Africa, 12–18 December 1988, p. 2353.Google Scholar For a detailed discussion of this issue, see ‘Politics of Sharia’, in Newswatch (Lagos), 24 10 1988, pp. 9–16.Google Scholar

Page 120 note 2 Bourke, Gerald, ‘Link with Israelis Stirs Row in Nigeria’, in The Independent (London), 14 03 1989, p. 12.Google Scholar

Page 121 note 1 These extracts of Abubaka, Sheikh Gumi's interview in Quality (Lagos), 10 1987,Google Scholarwere published in West Africa, 19 October 1987, p. 2089. Religious sentiments were involked in the 1987–8 ‘no-party’ elections for local government councils. Some Nigerians, including Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Governor of Kaduna State, have asked the Babangida Government to consider the registration of a minimum of three political parties, with General Olusegun Obasanjo calling for a one-party state.Google Scholar

Page 121 note 2 ibid.

Page 121 note 3 ibid. 7 December 1987, p. 2389.

Page 121 note 4 For the characteristics of such two-party systems, see Horowitz, Donald L., Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley, 1985), pp. 347–9. In Nigeria, for instance, ethnic parties are likely to emphasise parochial issues, notably the creation of states for those who give them political support.Google Scholar

Page 122 note 1 ‘Limits of Assembly Powers’, in National Concord, 12 May 1988, p. 1.

Page 123 note 1 More details about the nature and advantages of a rotational Presidency are given in Akinola, Anthony A., The Search for a Nigerian Political System (London, 1986),Google Scholaralbeit rejected by the Political Bureau, as may be seen from Government's Views and Comments on the Findings and Recommendations of the Political Bureau, pp. 22–3.Google Scholar See also the following articles by Akinola, Anthony A., ‘Coping with Religion and Ethnicity’, in National Concord, 17 02 1988, p. 3,Google Scholar‘Religion, Ethnicity and Presidency’, in The Guardian (Lagos), 18 02 1988,Google Scholar‘Of Two-Man Presidency: religion and ehnicity’, in New Nigerian, 11 March 1988, p. 5, and ‘Across the Religious Divide’, in African Concord, 18 March 1988, pp. 8–9; as well as letters to editors, ‘A Presidency on Rota?’, in West Africa, 25 January 1988, p.135,Google Scholar‘2-Man Presidency Better’, in Nigerian Tribune (Ibadan), 2 02 1988;Google Scholarand ‘Provide for Two-Man Joint Presidency’, in New Nigerian, 9 February 1988.Google Scholar